


Family Is What You Make It

by LightningStriking



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha Steve Rogers, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Artificial Insemination, Bonding, Eventual Smut, Knotting, Light Angst, M/M, Male Pregnancy, Omega Bucky Barnes, Pining, Pregnant Bucky Barnes, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-08-22 20:52:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16605257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LightningStriking/pseuds/LightningStriking
Summary: For thirty odd years, Bucky Barnes has wanted two things.  The first is to be bonded to the man he's sure is destined to be his mate - his best friend, Steve Rogers.  Yet after decades of waiting for the Alpha to make a move, Bucky is forced to conclude that is one dream that will never come true.  Which means it is up to Bucky to go after the second thing he craves alone - a family of his own.Taking matters into his own hands, Bucky uses the services of the best fertility clinic in the city, to make the dream of having his own baby a reality.  Once the decision is made, there is no turning back.  Now, all Bucky has to do is figure out how to explain to everyone, specifically one Steve Rogers, just why his best leather jacket and old band t-shirts aren't fitting so well anymore.  The results are something no one would ever have expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my lovely readers!!! If anyone is still there... I hope you are! 
> 
> Sincerest apologies for my extended absence. Life has held some HUGE changes for me in the last half of year. Not least of which is a new house (which is awesome) that does not have internet connection (which is less awesome). That makes posting a bit of a challenge. However, I am back, with a new story I hope you'll love!

Thumbing through the ancient magazine before tossing it aside in favor of jiggling one leg nervously, fingers plucking at the edge of his shirt, Bucky contemplated whether there was a company who specialized in creating magazines so boring they could hold no one’s attention, ever. After a lifetime of endless hours spent in doctor’s offices, repair shops, and the worst of the worst, the DMV, he was convinced such a company must exist. Because Bucky had yet to flip through a magazine in any of the aforementioned locations that didn’t put him into some sort of comatose state. Clearly, this company must be making a killing.

            Refusing to acknowledge that his lack of attention to the admittedly lackluster reading material just might have something to do with the nerves coursing through his veins, Bucky chewed restlessly on his bottom lip as he glanced around the clinic waiting room he was currently waiting in, suspended in some sort of time warp limbo.

            As far as waiting rooms went, it was actually fairly nice. The walls painted a lovely blue, interesting and colorful art hung in simple frames, plenty of sunlight poured in through large windows, and thriving plants tucked in corners made it surprisingly atmospheric yet relaxing. Or it would be, if Bucky didn’t feel on the edge of an anxiety attack. Because it wasn’t the pictures on the walls that had caught his attention, but rather the Omega sitting several plush chairs away, the Alpha sitting beside her rubbed the large curve of her stomach and whispered quiet things that had her beaming, love and pride practically radiating off of her.

            Fingers abandoning the hem of his shirt in favor of pressing over the flat, firmly muscled planes of his own stomach, Bucky flinched when the Omega looked up, and sent him a smile that was both supportive and understanding. Tearing his gaze away from the sight that filled him with a longing so sharp it was painful, Bucky flushed, and stared down at his shoes instead.

            He’d known when he’d made this decision, after years of agonizing indecision, that the results would be anything but simple. The mechanics of getting what he so desperately wanted aside, the stigma he was openly inviting wouldn’t be pleasant. Despite the advances in the last several decades that had been made regarding Omega rights, some things had not, and may never change. Unmated Omega parents were subtly if not openly discriminated against, for daring to have babies without the “support” that they were supposed to be depend on from an Alpha. As though their designation alone made them incapable of taking care of themselves, much less the babies they were perfectly designed to bear.

            Bucky knew the disgrace associated with being a single parent was fucking nonsense. Not only had he personally seen examples of incredible single parents, he had enough faith in himself to know that while he wouldn’t be perfect, because no one was, he’d do his best by his baby, and love it enough to make up for any honest mistakes he might make. Though he didn’t look forward to the idea of being scorned, it wasn’t the prospect of the snide remarks that would surely come his way that had something very near to panic trembling through his body. It was the fact that Bucky didn’t _want_ to be a single parent.

            “Mr. Barnes?”

            Jolting at the sound of his name, Bucky looked up to see the pretty woman standing in a crisp lab coat, gesturing him forward. Following her down a hall, then into an office that was as warmly decorated as the waiting room, rather than a sterile examination room full of medical equipment and the dreaded stirrups, Bucky felt his shoulder relax slightly despite his nerves.

            They lowered a fraction more at the warm smile the small Omega sent him. “Mr. Barnes, I’m Dr. Wanda Maximoff. We spoke on the phone when you first made your appointment. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she spoke in a sweetly accented voice, the blatant kindness in her a balm to his frayed nerves.

            Clearing his throat, which had been threatening to close on him all morning, he managed to reply, “It’s Bucky.”

            Her smile brightened at that. “Bucky then. Welcome to the Hope Fertility Clinic. Today, what I would like to do is explain the process of going through our artificial insemination process. As our website states, we accommodate both Omegas who would like to choose from anonymous donors, or those who wish to use sperm from their Alphas. Do you know which option you would prefer to use? If there is an Alpha who will be involved in this process?” she prompted delicately, but Bucky flushed all the same.

            “Ah, it’s, ah, just me.” Just me. An expression that encompassed the first thirty years of his life, and he feared, the remainder of it. The very reason why he, a man who would not prefer to be a single parent, was now beginning the expensive and emotionally fraught process of becoming impregnated in a way that had nothing to do with knots, and mating, and love. Not because Bucky felt himself incapable of love, or developing and maintaining a happy relationship. But because he’d only ever wanted one person.

            For as long as Bucky remembered, when he’d envisioned a future that involved babies and a family and happiness, there had been one crucial constant in those dreams. Every part of his being, body and soul, had belonged to one Alpha – Steve Rogers. The pair of them had met as children, and from the moment his eyes had fallen upon that sunny fluff of golden hair, Bucky had felt complete. As though he’d only been half a soul, and Steve had completed it. Long before they’d even received their designations, Bucky had known he’d been fated for Steve.

            Unfortunately, fate had disagreed. In all their decades of being the best of friends, their relationship had never developed beyond the platonic. Bucky had watched with a silently breaking heart as Steve developed into a dazzling specimen of an Alpha, and then wooed Omegas and even lucky Betas left and right. None of the relationships had ever stuck, though not for lack of trying on Steve’s part. He was the model of what a partner should be, kind, giving, loving and protective.

            Not once had that loving, protective attention been turned on Bucky though, until Bucky at last had to accept the fact that Steve would never want him the way an Alpha wanted an Omega. They would never be mated, never create that family he’d been dreaming of forever.

            But that didn’t mean Bucky couldn’t have part of his dream. He could still have a baby, and be a parent, and create his own little family. It might not be how he’d envisioned it, but it could be beautiful all the same.

            “Understood. I want you to know, we support any and every type of family here. So long as you will love the baby we’re here to help you have, that’s all that matters,” Wanda assured him, reaching out to briefly touch his shoulder.

            While the ache inside of him was in no way lessened, the lingering feelings of anxiety Bucky had been harboring dissolved at the sincerity in Wanda’s face. Yes, he could do this. And in this place at least, he found a measure of understanding.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! Yay for another chapter! For anyone wondering, my plans for this story are to post once a week :) (shleeping around my laptop to free wifi more often than that is just not going to happen) 
> 
> Enjoy!

Scrambling to gather together all the papers he had spread before him on the coffee table when the front door of his apartment unexpectedly swung open, Bucky looked up, then collapsed back into his couch with a sigh of relief when he saw Natasha letting herself in, closing the door behind her.

            “Thank God, it’s just you,” he breathed thankfully. Only two people had a key to his place – Natasha, and Steve, his two best friends. Normally Bucky had no cause to regret that decision, when he wanted them to feel at home in his home, but considering the fact he had no desire, and no words to explain to Steve why he had descriptions of different male donors sprawled across the table like Chinese takeout menus of virile Alphas, the door opening unexpectedly had sent him into a momentary panic.

            Then again, if he’d paused a second to consider it, only Natasha would throw open his door without warning. Boundaries were not something she cared about. Steve, on the other hand, always knocked, gentleman that he was. No one had ever accused Natasha of being a gentleman.

            Raising an eyebrow, she lifted the hand holding a six pack of his favorite beer. “Just me comes bearing presents. But if you’re going to be mean about it, I’ll just take this somewhere I’m appreciated.”

            Bucky laughed aloud. “I take it back! You’re a dream. A vision. The platonic love of my life.”

            “That’s more like it,” Nat nodded regally, detouring to his kitchen to throw the six pack in the fridge, but not before grabbing a bottle for them both.

            Coming to plop down on the couch beside him, she regarded the stacks of paper with interest, before her eyes widened when she realized what they were. “Oh my god. You really did it.”

            “Mhmm,” Bucky hummed absently as he straightened the papers back into the ranking system he’d been developing.

            “And you still refuse to admit it’d be easier to just tell Steve you love him, want to have ten of his babies, and live happily ever after?” Nat demanded, tone dry as Bucky debated on the placement of Alpha 073.

            “Yup,” he replied cheerfully, grunting when her elbow made sharp contact with his ribs. Pain aside, he took her verbal barb in stride. While Natasha had been encouraging him to just fess up to Steve for years, she was also the only one he’d told when he’d first started tentatively investigating the mechanics of artificial insemination. And while she maintained there were much easier ways to get knocked up, Natasha had unconditionally supported him from the beginning. Just one of the countless reasons Bucky loved her.

            “So, how was the appointment? What happens next? Tell me all about it.”

            “Well, after explaining the process to me, there was the physical examination, to ensure my ability to carry a baby, and determine when I’ll be more receptive to conceiving.” Unfortunately it had involved the dreaded stirrups, but fortunately Wanda had been able to put him at ease, sympathizing with the annoyance of the whole thing, which, she’d revealed, she’d gone through herself when she and her Beta wife decided they wanted a baby. Seeing the pictures of the adorable baby boy she’d shown him, “Named Pietro after my brother,” had convinced Bucky all over again it would be worth it, no matter how uncomfortable being poked and prodded may be.

            “I get to choose which of the Alphas I prefer. Then once I hit my next heat, I go to the clinic and they’ll do the insemination there.”

            “Damn. No more suppressants than?” Natasha asked, the sympathy in her voice genuine. Bucky sighed. Just one more crappy bit of the process, he had to go off the suppressants that he’d been on since puberty. They were the one thing that made a heat bearable without an Alpha to help him through it. Considering that Bucky had never _had_ an Alpha to get him through a heat, he’d appreciated the medication, and hadn’t had to suffer through an un-medicated heat in fifteen years. Obviously though, he couldn’t _get_ pregnant when on something specifically designed to keep him from being receptive to becoming pregnant.

            Bucky definitely wasn’t looking forward to it now. But, he reminded himself as he thought back to the happily, fatly pregnant Omega he’s seen in the waiting room, it would be worth it. “No more suppressants. But, they gave me scent blockers so I can get to the clinic and home again without causing a riot in the streets.” Something Bucky fervently appreciated, considering even these days, the scent of an Omega in heat was irresistible to Alphas. Yes, the world had advanced enough he wouldn’t likely be pinned to the ground and claimed by whatever Alpha got to him first, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t all be pounding on Bucky’s door to buy him coffee, a jet, a private island, whatever he desired, so long as he gave himself in return. Yeah, no thanks.

            “Speaking of, I’m obviously not going to be able to drive myself, and they require a person to be there, just in case there are any complications. So I was thinking… will you be my person?” Bucky questioned, turning to see the sentiment flickering through her eyes before Natasha shoved it down through force of will alone. Smushy emotions – she didn’t really do those either.

            “Of course I will. Gotta make sure all goes well when you’re busying creating my future niece or nephew.”

            Taking the finger she poked at his stomach with manful dignity, he pulled her into a hug despite her protests. “Thanks Nat. That’s why you’re the best.”

            Snorting, she finally managed to fight off the embrace. “That, and I bring you beer.”

            “True,” he grinned.

            “Alright.” Decisively, she picked up the paper closest to her. “Let’s pick you a baby daddy.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there ever comes a day where Nat isn't the most awesome friend ever... it's probably the apocalypse. I love her friendship with the boys so much!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, happy Thanksgiving Day to you! To those of you who don't, happy Thursday! Regardless, please know that I'm thankful for every single one of my lovely readers. You truly make hauling my laptop all over town to get free wifi totally worth it!

“Bucky!” At the overjoyed shout, Bucky glanced over, and spotted Steve waving broadly across the packed bar, gesturing with an enthusiasm that had other patrons either looking at him strangely, or ducking out of the way of his sweeping motions.

            Laughing to himself, all the anxiety and nerves of the day melting away at the wide grin he adored, Bucky wove his way through the crowd, nodding to his group of friends as he managed to slide into the seat that had been saved for him.

            “Man, how come you never sound that excited when I show up?” Sam demanded, folding his arms, handsome face settling into a disgruntled expression.

            Steve shrugged, no shame evident as he slid over a frosty glass into Bucky’s grateful hands. “Maybe cause Bucky buys me beer?” he offered.

            “Dude. You just bought Bucky _that_ beer,” Sam shot back. Bucky grinned at his sullen pout, taking an excessively loud sip of the beer, which just happened to be his favorite. Sam had a point. But if Bucky could never have Steve’s heart, his genuine eagerness to see Bucky no matter how long or short they’d been parted, and free beers, weren’t bad as far as consolation prizes went.

            “It’s probably because he’s got that long, pretty hair,” Clint decided, nodding wisely as he flicked a finger at Bucky’s artfully tousled locks. Which Bucky may or may not have spent far too long perfecting, hence his late arrival.

            Natasha, who was comfortably perched in Clint’s lap, arm looped around her boyfriend’s shoulders pursed her lips in agreement. “That’s true. Steve does have a thing for brunettes.”

            Ah, if only catching Steve’s attention was as easy as showing off his admittedly pretty hair, Bucky thought with a little sigh, before taking a longer gulp of beer. Flushing, Steve rolled his eyes. “Whatever, you guys. Are you doing karaoke or not? I’m pretty sure last time I promised to completely kick Clint’s ass in a song battle.”

            All other thoughts completely flew out of Clint’s head as he stood up in affront, catching Nat at the last second before she would have been dumped on the floor. “Kick my ass? Dream on pretty boy. Just cause you’ve got the looks of a boy bander, doesn’t mean you’ve got the pipes to go with it.”

            Grinning at the long standing feud between the two blonds, well aware neither would ever acknowledge the other’s singing supremacy, Bucky went to grab the appetizer menu when he was unceremoniously hauled back to his feet. “Come on buddy, you know I need my back up singer with me,” Steve said, as he tugged Bucky towards the small stage crammed in the back of the pub, where some unfortunate soul was completely butchering Johnny Cash, God rest his soul.

            “Backup singer?” Bucky demanded, barely managing to turn the breathlessness of his voice at being so delightfully manhandled by Steve’s effortless Alpha strength, into more acceptable annoyance.

            “Did I say backup? I meant lead, obviously. The AC to my DC. The Guns to my Roses. The uh, Journey front man to my Journey backup singer?”

            “Oh my god. I will sing with you if you stop insulting the entire musical genera with your lack of knowledge.”

            Delighting in the way Steve threw back his head, clutching his chest as he laughed at Bucky’s dry retort, Bucky was glad he still had his beer in the hand not grasped in Steve’s own. If he was going to make it through yet another day without making his hopeless crush on Steve completely obvious, he was going to need the liquid assistance. Especially when Steve’s hand, so warm and gentle despite its strength, felt so damn good. It was going to be a long night. But as he was given a helpful shove on stage by Steve, while Clint heckled them both, Bucky knew it was going to be an incredible one. As was every night spent with Steve.

 

 

“I’m the karaoke champion of the world!” Steve crowed, one fist raised triumphantly in the air, the other arm wrapped around Bucky’s shoulders. Bucky wasn’t sure if it was intended to help keep him upright, or if he was the one supporting Steve. It hadn’t taken him too long to catch up to Steve’s level, when the blond kept pressing beers into his hands, and they were now pretty equally drunk.

            “I don’t think that’s really a thing,” Sam mused.

            “Maybe in Japan,” Nat offered, as she held up Clint, an impressive feat of strength considering he was practically twice her size. No one should ever underestimate her almost frightening strength.

            “The Japanese would recognize that I’m the true champion,” Clint muttered, his scowl making it clear he was still disgruntled over the unofficial results. Bucky felt for the guy, but the cheering of the other bar patrons had made it clear – Steve and Bucky were an unbeatable duo. At karaoke, at least.

            “Come on, babe. You can draft an invitation to the Japanese consulate tomorrow, inviting them to your rematch,” Natasha consoled, as she led her swaying man out the door.

            Trying his best to follow her, Bucky rebounded on the door frame, since Steve was still clinging to him, and the two of them were significantly wider than the bar entrance. But after a little side shuffling, looking like two drunken participants of a three legged race, they made it through, Steve singing Phil Collins all the while.

            “Alright champion. Time for me to take my lead singer ass home. See you Monday for lunch?” Bucky asked, trying to turn to look up Steve, yet only succeeding in making the both of them swing around like they were doe se doeing.

            “What are you talking about? I gotta see you home!” Steve replied, looking scandalized and outraged at the very suggestion that he would do anything else. Ignoring the wink Natasha gave him before she succeeded in pouring a still complaining Clint into a cab, Bucky blinked in confusion.

            “Uh…why?” he demanded.

            “Oh my god. You two are idiots. I can’t handle this. Later!” Sam declared before heading off towards the closest train stop. Neither Steve nor Bucky paid him any attention, too busy frowning at each other.

            “Because you’re an Omega!” Steve replied.

            Bucky’s brows arched. That was unexpected. “And?” he prompted, ready and willing to be pissed. Yeah, Omega he may be, but he was hardly helpless, despite what the average testosterone filled Alpha may think. Bucky’s muscles weren’t just for show. Besides, Steve knew this. Hell, Bucky had been the one to teach _Steve_ how fight, when the boy had been all attitude, pointy elbows and skinny arms, too shrimpy to win a fight but too stubborn to walk away from one.

            “And… your house is closer? So you could let me crash on your couch like the awesome friend you are?” Steve finished, a winning smile spread hopefully across his face.

            “Hmm,” Bucky replied. Why Steve had just gone all Alpha male was a mystery, but clearly the blond had read the warning on Bucky’s face quick enough to back pedal. Feeling Steve sway dangerously on his feet, Bucky decided letting Steve crash on his couch rather than try and navigate his way home probably was the better option. And if Steve’s lingering scent tortured Bucky tomorrow – well, he’d always had slightly masochistic tendencies.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! Please enjoy this next chapter :)

“Rise and shine!”

            Jumping at the sound of both a viciously cheerful greeting, and the door slamming, Bucky instantly regretted it when his head began to throb. Pressing his fingers to his temples, Bucky focused on breathing deeply, in hopes of stemming the slight feeling of nausea that rolled through his stomach. He may not have gotten drunk enough last night for an end the world hang over, yet his night of revelry that he would have bounced back after with no ill effects at the age of twenty, was proving to him just how young he was not. Clearly, after thirty, there was no bouncing. Ugh.

            Eyes closed tight, both against the light, and the sight of the obnoxious grin he just _knew_ would be on Natasha’s face, Bucky sighed when he felt the redhead nearing. So far as he knew, Nat had never had a hangover in her life. She attributed it to her strong Russian heritage. He attributed it to her having sold her soul to the devil.

            “Not feeling so hot, eh?” Natasha questioned, the fake solicitous tone finally prompting Bucky to squint open one eye, the better to glare at her.

            “Bite me.”

            “Thanks for the offer, but my Alpha is a jealous man. Besides, we both know the one you really want to bite you is a certain tall, gorgeous blond with pecs _almost_ as nice as my boobs.”

            At that, Bucky couldn’t help but sigh. Damn if it wasn’t the truth. Both his desire for the biting, and the fact that he had two best friends with excellent racks.

            “Not to mention, we know Steve wants to bite you.”

            At that, Bucky opened his other eye to double the effectiveness of his glare, his heart jumping at the words before they plummeted a moment later when reality caught up with him. Jesus, if only Steve wanted him the same way…

            “Lying to your friends is mean. Particularly when they’re hung over.”

            Natasha rolled her eyes, before holding out a bottle of Gatorade, the gesture eliminating half of his irritation with her. Sweet mana from heaven. “I’m not lying. Steve wanting your sweet Omega ass is the only reason I can think of as to why he’d make you a nest. But what do I know.”

            Startled, Bucky blinked, before he sat up, his motions hampered by the fact he was bundled up and buried in every single blanket and pillow he owned. All of them carefully tucked around him, something he could not have managed in his inebriated state last night when he and Steve had crashed onto his couch, or in his passed out state this morning. Which could only mean… Steve. _His_ Steve had tucked him into the sort of nest that Bucky’s Omega heart had secretly longed for. It was the move of an Alpha for an Omega they saw as their own, their protective instincts driving them to keep their lover warm and safe.

            Even as Bucky tried to calm his madly beating heart, knowing full well Steve in no way thought of him as anything other than his oldest friend, Bucky couldn’t help but bury his face into the blankets, inhaling the scent of Alpha deep into his lungs.

            “He doesn’t want me like that,” Bucky finally stated, trying to rein in his pathetic pining heart, a task that had always proved impossible. If Steve had… well, Bucky would like to think he’d have woken up to both of them lying in his bed, Steve scenting his neck and lazily rolling an early morning erection against Bucky’s ass, rather than waking up alone on the couch. But he’d been in this exact position before, and knew he would again, when after a night of beer enhanced revelry, Bucky could never deny himself the torturous pleasure of drunkenly curling up against Steve’s side until they both passed out. And it never failed, Steve would wake up with the sun – the complete lunatic - start a pot of coffee for Bucky to enjoy when he woke up because he was an awesome house guest like that, and quietly let himself out for his morning jog.

            “Whatever,” Natasha said, clearly not interested in rehashing this old, old debate, before plopping down in the chair across from Bucky. Which reminded him –

            “Why _are_ you here?”

            “One, to get a preview of how pathetic you’ll be when you’re pregnant and dealing with morning sickness-” Bucky’s stomach rolled at the idea. He supposed this _was_ a bit of a preview of what things might be like once he had a bun in the oven, which seemed kind of ironic considering he’d gone out last night with the idea of enjoying a last hurrah before beer was off the menu for the next nine months. Nothing like a free sample of morning sickness to make him question is wisdom in getting pregnant. But no – even the concept of feeling precisely like this every single day couldn’t dampen his desire for his own baby. He’d just have to stock up on Gatorade and Saltines. It would be worth it.

            “- And two, to find out when your heat is supposed to start. I want to be able to request the day off from work ahead of time, so I’ll be able to drive you.”

            Since his visit at the clinic, Bucky had carefully been tracking things like his heart rate, temperature, even cravings for sweets, to be able to pinpoint when his heat would start with complete accuracy. Despite the effort it had taken, Bucky had enjoyed the proof of his heat approaching, knowing that this time, it wouldn’t simply be several days of torture. This time, it would finally fulfill its ultimate purpose. Bucky could not wait.

            “Judging by my tracker, it should be next Tuesday.”

            “Perfect. So, speaking of you growing a niece of nephew for me to corrupt, did you finally decide which Alpha you’re going to go with?”

            At that, a flush spread across his face. Something Natasha zeroed in on immediately. Of course.

            “Oh my god. You’re picking Alpha 203 aren’t you?”

            “Maybe,” Bucky stated, lip sticking out in the beginning of a pout. It was his baby. He could pick whatever Alpha he wanted. The thought sounded petulant even in his own head, but he had never expected to have to defend his choice to Natasha. Then again, neither of them had been expecting to come across an Alpha among the choices who sounded like a perfect description of the man he’d always wanted to father his babies, an Alpha Nat had instantly dubbed the Steve clone. Bucky he had been stunned when he’d come across the bio of the Alpha that he’d deep down known he was going to pick the instant he read it. Tall, blond haired, blue eyed, excellent health, and well educated.

            The child of such a donor would never be Bucky and Steve’s. But it was as close as it possible to get. And while making such a pick probably said a lot of troubling things about Bucky, and the lengths he was willing to go to get something close to what he’d always dreamed off, he couldn’t regret it.  

            “So you still maintain it is easier to go through this all for the sperm of a man that sounds like your perfect man, rather than just getting a direct deposit from your perfect man?”

            “I hate you,” Bucky muttered before taking a giant swig of Gatorade.

            “No you don’t. Not when I’m going to make you breakfast.”

            Mouth instantly watering at the thought of the hangover cure Nat had been generously cooking him since college, a delicious breakfast scramble that was greasy and cheesy and perfect, Bucky considered before nodding.

            “You’re right. I love you.”

            “I know. That’s why you’re going to name the baby after me.”

            Laughing loud, Bucky let himself fall back into this blanket nest as Nat gave him a fond shove of pretend offense, then headed off to the kitchen. Bucky might be about to become a single father, but with friends like Natasha in his life, he realized he’d never really be alone.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let this chapter be an antidote to that trailer for a certain movie that came out recently... Ugh, my heart. So, let's ignore that, and instead enjoy the next chapter of this feelsy, fun story!

“What did I tell you about kicking me in the spleen?”

            Jumping, Bucky turned to stare with bleary eyes at the well-dressed man sitting a few chairs away from him. Though his crisply tailored suit jacket couldn’t hide the large swell of his stomach, which he was poking at, a scowl fixed on his face. “We have rules kid. And rule number one is not practicing ju-jit-su on your father’s vital organs.”

            A gasp, a hiss, as the poke turned into a rub that seemed to be doing little to soothe the pain. “Yeah, I know that I don’t know what the spleen is for, but I’m sure if it’s in there, it’s pretty damn vital!”

            “Are you lecturing your unborn baby?”

            Blinking, eyes sharpened behind lavender glasses, pinning Bucky to the spot before Bucky even realized he’d spoken out loud.

            “Listen, you got to train them early. Never too soon to instill some manners,” the besuited man replied, before he took in Bucky’s appearance. Shaking his head, he sighed. “It’s not too late for you, man. Get out of here while you still can, before you’ve got a bowling ball chilling on your bladder.”

               Rubbing his eyes to try and clear his gaze, Bucky’s heat hazed mind took far longer than it normally would to come up with the appropriate answer.

            “But, I _want_ the bowling ball.” Understatement of the century. But he thought it managed to fit all his wants and longings into a sentence as neatly as possible, when his brain was a blur.

            “Yeah, I guess you must to put up with being off suppressants. First heat in a while huh? Those are shit. But a necessary evil to get said bowling ball.”

            That was no understatement. This heat was shit, and when Natasha had shown up, reliable as the sunrise, to bring him to the clinic as she’d promised, Bucky had simply wanted to bury himself in a blanket nest and never surface again, he felt so miserable and needy and flat out awful. If he’d ever contemplated going off suppressants to live a “natural lifestyle” as far too many Omega Health magazines encouraged, this would have put him off the notion for good. Heats sucked. Especially without an Alpha to get him through. Although, if he’d had an Alpha, he wouldn’t need to be sitting in a waiting room with five scent blocker patches on his skin, blearily longing for his largest dildo, and enough ice water to fill a swimming pool. But, if he’d had an Alpha, he’d probably be on his heat anyways, to get that bowling ball he so desperately wanted … And his brain was officially not making sense anymore.

            Pulled back to the present when the other man looked down at his belly once more, this time stroking it in a gesture that shouted pure love, Bucky couldn’t help but smile when he spoke to the it. “Yes, you’re worth a shitty heat, you know I love you. Now be good and go to sleep.”

            “Does… the lecturing actually work?” Bucky questioned, when he blinked away the shimmer from his vision once more.

            “Nah, not really. But I bet if Pepper did it, it would work. No one doesn’t listen to her.”

            Pepper… The name ringing a bell in his heat addled mind, Bucky narrowed his gaze on the man. Before his eyes opened wide. He was clearly referring to _the_ Pepper Potts. Which would make this man, casually sitting in a small, though highly ranked, fertility clinic in what had to be thousand dollar shoes, _the_ Tony Stark. Holy shit.

            “Holy shit,” Bucky croaked out. “You’re-”

            “An Omega, just like everyone else coming in here to get knocked up. Is that going to be a problem?” Tony tipped down his glasses, the better to stare down Bucky.

            “Of course not,” Bucky replied instantly. Too far gone to be anything other than honest, as he pulled at the neck of his t-shirt, wondering if they’d cranked the heat up to a hundred degrees in the small room. “It’s just… knowing someone like you is here makes me feel like maybe I’m not so pathetic for being here.”

            At that, Tony’s gaze softened. Not into something so sticky as sympathy, but rather acute understanding. “Listen. There’s nothing pathetic about getting what you want. I’m guessing you don’t have an Alpha, considering there’s not one next to you baring his teeth at anyone who so much as looks your way. But you still are brave enough to come here and do this ridiculously uncomfortable thing, all to make your own family. Anyone who doesn’t admire that – fuck em.”

            At that, a smile tugged at Bucky’s lips, something he would have thought was impossible considering how excruciating a state he was currently in. God, they’d better call him in soon before he started humping the little side table that held well-worn magazines. God, heats were the worst.

            “Thanks,” Bucky managed to croak out, before his voice broke. Whether from his heat, or emotion, he couldn’t say. But luckily, Tony didn’t comment.

            “Don’t mention it. Seriously. And hey, here’s my card. If you ever want to talk to someone about it, or compare notes once your spleen is getting used as a soccer ball.”

            Gaping at the card that had been summarily shoved into his hand, Bucky glanced over when at last, _at last_ his name was called. Standing up, he simply nodded before he started to follow the smiling nurse out of the waiting room. A hoarse chuckle escaping him when Tony yelled after him “Go get that sperm, buddy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tony. Stark. My platonic love for him is bigger than the sky.


	6. Chapter 6

Staring down Bucky, Nat stated firmly, “Drop the pants.” While her tone allowed no argument, and she wore the all too familiar express that promised retribution if anyone dare resist her, Bucky still hesitated.

            “Uh, I don’t really think-”

            “Stop stalling. Get your junk out.”

            “You know, orders like that really kill the mood. It’s not my _junk_ ,” Bucky protested. He was damn proud of his equipment. Even if he’d never had the occasion to show it off to anyone else. Until now apparently.

            “Oh, I’m sorry, should I have lit some candles for you? Put on some John Legend to set the mood?” Despite the dryly sarcastic tone, Bucky shrugged, even as he rather unwillingly started to unzip his jeans.

            “It might be nice.”

            “Oh dear God, Bucky, are we going to do this or not?”

            Stalling, Bucky bit his lip, glancing around uncertainly as though expecting an unwelcome and judgmental audience to jump out at any moment. Or perhaps someone to rescue him from the complete awkwardness of this moment. “Uh, are you sure Clint isn’t going to mind-”

            “Jesus, Bucky! This was _your_ idea. Now pee on the damn stick already!” Natasha commanded, thrusting the pregnancy test towards him.

            Okay, so maybe she had a point.

            In the days following the insemination, Bucky had been too busy burning through the remainder of his heat to worry about anything. So much worse than all the heats he’d suffered before, the vicious claws of need and desire had been raking through him at the very idea that he’d had the come of an Alpha deep within him, breeding him, impregnating him the way he’d always wanted. Yet the lack of the knot locked inside him, the need for a mating bite on his shoulder, the absence of a hot, heavy body holding him down had Bucky’s body writhing in confusion. It had been hell. So much so that Bucky had crushed his phone when the urge to just _call_ Steve, to beg and plead for his _Alpha_ had become more than he could take. A moment of frenzy he regretted later when his heat finally abated and he craved a mountain of Chinese food to help him recover. But he’d made it through.

            Once the heat was over though, Bucky had had plenty of time to consider and think through the possible results. Enough so that tonight, Bucky had thought himself straight into a panic attack where he could no longer think clearly – or at all really. He’d bought the pregnancy tests, drank the water, and waited until the precise _hour_ that Dr. Maximoff had promised any pregnancy hormones would register on a test. Yet when that hour had come, after weeks of alternating hope and fear that this hadn’t worked, that there just _had_ to be something wrong with him that would prevent him conceiving despite all of the doctors reassurances that he was at his optimum age and health to become pregnant – he couldn’t do it. Couldn’t face the idea of finding out the shape of his future alone.

            So Nat, being the incredible friend that she was, had abandoned Clint mid Predator movie marathon, and show up to hold his hand through the process. Which Bucky would have assumed, had he had the clarity of mind to think at all, was metaphorical. Perhaps from the safe distance of the living room. Instead, what he got was his best friend sitting on the edge of the tub, waiting impatiently for him to, as stated, pee on a stick.

            “You know, watching me only makes this more difficult,” Bucky grumbled as he carefully turned his back to her before wrangling himself out of his boxers.

            “Stage fright is a more common phenomena among men then they like to admit,” came the snarky reply, and he could just _hear_ the smirk in her voice. Lip jutting out in what could only be termed a pout, Bucky at last managed to get things flowing, if only to prove her wrong. Which he realized three seconds later was her intention all along. Damn psychoanalyzing friend who knew exactly what buttons to push. And damn if he wouldn’t be lost without her.

            Setting the test on the back of the toilet before tucking himself away, flushing, and washing his hands, Bucky lowered the lid and sat down heavily as a wave of terror and elation flooded through him once more, leaving him weak.

            “Natasha,” he began, when her hand clamped down over his, firm and unwavering, the strength of her something he depended on.

            “Five minutes, Bucky,” Nat said, her voice softened into something few ever heard. “Five minutes and we will know.”

            “What if… what if it didn’t take?” he demanded.

            “Then we try again,” she soothed. Before she began to tell him a winding tale about how Clint was trying to decide who would come out on top – the Predator, or all the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park. After all, the Predator vs the Alien had already been done. Why not pit the ultimate hunter against the ultimate animal the planet had ever created? It was an intriguing enough idea to sufficiently distract Bucky, as he seriously debated the strength of the invisible Predator, and the unsurpassed skills of the pack hunting velociraptors with an infinitely patient Nat. Until Nat’s phone chirped, the timer she’d set alerting them that five minutes had passed. A split second, but an eternity.

            Hand trembling, Bucky made to reach for the test he’d stubbornly kept his eyes averted from until the moment. Squeezing his other hand tight, Nat nodded at him. “I’m here for you. No matter what.”

            Taking a shaking breath, Bucky lifted the test, held it between them, both of them reading the bring pink letters that spelled out the verdict. “Oh Bucky,” Nat breathed.

            Eyes flooding with tears, Bucky let out a sob, no longer able to see, but not needing to, the outcome burned in his mind. “I’m pregnant.”

            Hauling him to his feet, Nat wrapped him up in a hug so tight it was nearly shocking in its strength. “You’re pregnant Bucky! You’re having a baby!” she exclaimed, her own voice suspiciously damp.

            Laughing through his tears, Bucky hugged her back with a desperate, panicked joy. And if the arms around him weren’t the ones he’d dreamed for years would hold him when this moment came, Bucky’s joy was no less real. He was having a baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovely readers! Yayyy, it worked! Now for the pregnancy fun to begin :D


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovely readers, it is I! Your very absent writer! Alas, with the holidays, my perpetual sickness, and a magical New Years trip to Disneyland (where I 100% fell in love with the actress who played Rey) writing definitely went to the way side. But I have returned! Please enjoy the next installment of my story.

Sliding carefully into the booth of the dinner, caution in every movement, Bucky wondered if there would come a time when he was not so achingly _aware_ of the gift growing within him. Like the most precious of buds slowly growing into a gorgeous bloom.

            The instant he’d managed to stop crying his eyes out while clinging to Natasha with joyous terror, he’d made his next appointment at the clinic. An appointment where Dr. Maximoff had cheerfully confirmed the results of his at-home pregnancy. A confirmation that had Bucky bawling all over again. Clearly, the hormones wasted no time in magnifying every emotion he had.

            Wanda had sympathetically patted his shoulder, clearly used to such dramatic reactions, and handed him a box of tissue. And then, once the tears had slowed, she began to answer the encyclopedia of questions Bucky had. Despite a lifetime of longing for pregnancy and the baby that would result from it, he’d never actually expected to _have_ it, and therefore had no real idea of what to expect. What to do, what not to do. Suddenly every daily action seemed fraught with potential peril, and he was frantic to do everything he could to keep the little creation inside of him exactly where it was, safe and sound as it grew.

            Among many other things, Wanda had assured him that the normal activities of life would not damage the baby, like standing, walking, and to his great surprise, jogging. A weekly tradition of Steve and himself, they had been jogging partners since high school, when a much skinnier and sicklier Steve wanted to bulk up with weights, but Bucky had convinced him endurance was more important. Particularly since Bucky privately was sure even the lowest weight might snap Steve like a twig.

            Through college and beyond, they’d managed to always make time for their jog, which had increased in speed and length as Steve had shed the weakness of his youth. Though they saw each other countless other times through the week, it was their one outing set in stone, ensuring they were always up to date on every details of each other’s lives – with one giant exception. It was Bucky’s favorite time of the week, the uninterrupted opportunity to simply bask in the warmth of Steve’s friendship. But if it would put his baby at risk, Bucky would abandon it without a second through.

            Despite her guarantee that is was perfectly healthy, Bucky had been tempted to forego his normal exercise regime altogether. Until that is, she pointed out that exercise was an excellent stress manager, and all his worry was much more potentially harmful to the fetus than a brisk jog through the park. Since he was already a ball of anxiety, Bucky couldn’t argue with her rational.

            So he’d booked out future appointments, including that which would allow him to hear his baby’s heartbeat. Tears had sprung to his eyes once more at the very thought, which Wanda had kindly pretended not to notice. Then Bucky had run out, bought every single book on pregnancy and labor he could get his hands on, and started to read.

            Now, as he rubbed a hand over his belly that showed no sign of the life sparking within him but Bucky was so sure he could _feel_ , he knew that at six weeks, his baby was the size of an apple seed. His baby was starting to grow a _nose_. Overwhelmed by the miracle of what was happening unseen inside of him, it took Bucky long moments to realize Steve had asked him a question.

            Blinking, Bucky tried to work through what they’d been discussing before he gave up. Baby brain – that was totally a legit excuse to be zero percent aware of what was going on around him, right? “What?” he questioned, oh so brilliantly.

            Steve chuckled, yet there was a hint of concern in his eyes. “I was asking if you’re alright.”

            Blinking more, Bucky’s mind began to race. Did Steve know? Could Steve know? Bucky wasn’t showing, and possibly wouldn’t until month three. Not that Bucky intended to hide his pregnancy until then… but then again after wracking him mind, wrapping it around every possible variation of the conversation that started with “Hey Steve, I’m knocked up. Surprise!” he just didn’t know how to do it.

            Not only because Steve would be understandably shocked. But because then… then his very last illusion that he had a chance with Steve would be over. Bucky clearly had never been an Omega worthy of catching Steve’s attentions to begin with. Yet an Omega who was pregnant with someone else’s child? That would catch _no_ Alpha’s attention - of that, Bucky was certain. And despite the foolishness, the futility of his useless dreams, Bucky couldn’t quite give up the idea that Steve might at last turn to him with love in his eyes. Not yet.

            Swallowing, Bucky replied with a level, “I’m fine.” It was a lie he told with ease, when he’d used it a million times in their lifetime of friendship. Nope, not completely and hopelessly in love with his best friend. He was totally fine.

            This time though, Steve looked less that convinced. The perceptive bastard. “Uh huh. Then you wanna tell me why you’ve just ordered egg whites and wheat toast?”

            “Uh, because I’m hungry. Which is why we are here,” Bucky explained, though he’d thought that was quiet obvious. After all, this is what they did after a jog – cooled down until they weren’t too sweaty or puffing loudly to be a public nuisance, then headed to Angie’s Dinner, for some of the best breakfast food the city had to offer. Of all the things Bucky was dreading having to explain sooner or later, this certainly hadn’t made the list.

            Steve rolled his eyes. “Yeah, obviously. But usually you order something with enough bacon, grease, and cheese to clog an artery or two.”

            Oh. Well Steve had a point there. Bucky had already managed to talk his way around why he was jogging at the pace of an old lady who’d just had a hip replacement by lying about a sore knee – because bad things could still happen Dr. Maximoff, it didn’t hurt to be careful! – but this change in diet was obviously enough to trigger Steve’s concern. Crap.

            “Eating better. New Year’s resolution,” Bucky replied breezily.

            “Bucky. It is September.”

            “Hey, never too late to start! Or, maybe I’m just really early for next year. Don’t be jealous, Stevie, that I’m so proactive.”

            At Stevie’s booming laugh, Bucky had to grin. Even as he felt, though he knew there was no way he could possible _feel_ , the little apple seed inside him seem to surge at the sound of that gorgeous voice, Bucky rubbed soothing fingertips over his abdomen. _Me too, little baby. Me too._


	8. Chapter 8

Jumping at the sound of the knock on the door, Bucky swore when he realized just who was standing on the other side. Steve was here, for this week’s jog through the park. Since Bucky had managed to gather his courage and keep up the routine despite his pregnancy, he’d never forgotten it. Until today, apparently.

            Casting one last glance towards the toilet he’d been clinging to for dear life, reluctant to leave it when ruthless nausea was the only reason he was curled up on the bathroom floor rather than his bed, Bucky hobbled towards the door. Swinging it open, he narrowly avoided a fist to the face, Steve lifting his hand to knock again.

            “Hey sleepyhead, catching up on your beauty rest or something?” Steve demanded with a grin before he took in the sight of Bucky standing, or rather, swaying slightly in front of him. White as a sheet, sweaty, and unshowered, Bucky could only imagine how awful he looked.

            “Steve, I don’t think I can jog today, I’m sorry-” Bucky began before blinking, as strong hands suddenly grasped his shoulders, effortlessly holding him up when he was in danger of face planting.

            “No shit you can’t jog! Bucky, what’s wrong?” Steve demanded, naked concern in his voice. Crap.

            “I’m fine, just got a stomach bug or something,” Bucky lied feebly, watching as the concern in Steve’s face made way for stubborn determination.

            “I don’t think so Buck. You look terrible, we’re getting you to the doctor right now. Where are your shoes?” Steve questioned, not chancing letting go of Bucky as he glanced around in search of footwear. Which was probably for the best as Bucky’s whole body protested being upright, stomach rolling dangerously.

            Bucky had so foolishly been pleased to reach the two month mark without any nausea, or sensitivity to scents, as all the books had warned could be possible. Yet at nine weeks, oh, how the mighty had fallen. Had he not been so busy puking his brains out, wondering vaguely if it was physically possible to throw up his currently grape sized baby, since it sure felt like his body was valiantly trying to, Bucky would have predicted this. Bucky had been able to alleviate Steve’s concerns last time, but now, there was no getting around the fact he looked like death. No one liked to see a friend feeling sick, but Steve – Steve took his protective instincts to another level.

            Bucky didn’t blame him for it, not when he knew the reason for the blond’s often overdramatic reactions. When Steve’s mother had been diagnosed with cancer, it had devastated Steve’s world. Despite Bucky being there for Steve in every way he could, it had killed Steve to see his mother so ill, helpless to do anything to make her well again. While Sarah had eventually made a full recovery, Steve would still fall into a state of panic at the very idea of losing someone he cared for.

            So yes, Bucky got it. But there was no way he could allow Steve to manhandle him into a car and off to the hospital. Not when he already knew the cause of his symptoms, and that the only cure was several months away, in the form of labor. And _especially_ not when he still had yet to figure out how to break the news to Steve of his current condition.

            “Seriously Steve, I just need to lie down, and I’ll feel better,” Bucky tried again, to no avail. Steve abandoned his visual search in favor of pinning Bucky with a stare so dominant, fuck if it didn’t make Bucky want to do anything and everything Steve could ask of him.

            “I don’t think so. You’ve been off for weeks now, canceling our pub plans the other night, not eating like normal, and now this? Clearly something is wrong, why I didn’t notice it sooner…” Steve trailed off, the obvious self-directed anger in his voice melting into pure shock, realization dawning in his features.

            Bucky followed Steve’s gaze down his stomach, where Bucky had one hand instinctively, protectively pressed. Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

            “Steve, I-” Bucky’s words cut off when Steve leaned in, tucked his face in Bucky’s neck, and breathed deep. Already weak knees threatened to give out altogether, at the reality of Steve scenting him. It was something Bucky had always privately fantasized about, Alpha drawing in the scent of willing, adoring Omega, but it this moment, it spelled disaster. When his own scent didn’t betray just his love for Steve, but a softening of his aroma that spoke of someone expecting.

            Just that quickly, Bucky found himself off his unsteady legs completely, when in a move that was all kinds of unfair to his already shattered composure, Steve swept him up into strong arms then carefully settling him on the couch, a blanket suddenly snuggled around Bucky like a strait jacket. Steve collapsed in the chair across from him, eyes racing over Bucky as though the truth might be written on Bucky’s skin.

            “You’re pregnant," Steve said, his tone somewhere between shock, and something else Bucky couldn’t define yet it made his already uneasy stomach clench all the same. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

            “Steve,” Bucky whispered, nausea taking a back seat to the fear he felt, seeing Steve sitting there, looking at Bucky as though he’d never seen him before. His fault, this was all his fault. Natasha had been asking Bucky, less and less gently as of late just when he was going to let those closest to him know about his pregnancy. Let _Steve_ know. Because eventually, as she’d pointed out bluntly, the bump in his shirt would do the talking for him. Yet Bucky could never figure out a way to tell them, to force the words past his lips. And now, he’d lost the chance to do it on his own terms. To try and explain in a way that didn’t shock or horrify, or push away Steve.

            Immediately those compelling blue eyes caught his, the fierceness daring Bucky to lie again. Defeated, Bucky could only swallow, then nod.

            “You’re pregnant,” Steve repeated, as though speaking the words might help him wrap his mind around it. “How far along?”

            “Uh, about two months.”

            “Two months,” Steve repeated stoically, before exploding to his feet. “You’ve been seeing someone for at least two month and you never bothered to tell me?” he demanded furiously.

            Wait. What?            

            “I…” Bucky trailed off when he had no idea how to finish the sentence. In all the times he’d imagined Steve finally learning the truth, Steve’s understandable shock and possible ire had been in regards to not learning about the baby sooner. Definitely not about the non-existent guy Bucky had been hypothetically seeing.

            “We tell each other everything! And there’s someone in your life that you’re having a _baby_ with, and you never even mentioned him?” Steve challenged, arms folding across his chest. Protectively, Bucky realized. Steve wasn’t just angry. He was hurt. And fuck, that was the last thing Bucky wanted.

            “Steve, _no_. Listen. There isn’t anyone. I’m not seeing anyone. This just…” Bucky couldn’t force out the lie that it had just happened. Not when he’d tried, and prayed, and done whatever it took to become pregnant with this baby he already loved more than life. Instead, Bucky just shook his head. “It’s just me.”

            Narrowed eyes going wide with surprise, then softening with sudden understanding, Steve clearly inferred that this pregnancy was the result of a random hookup. It wasn’t the truth either, but so long as Steve wasn’t hurting over the idea of Bucky hiding a pregnancy _and_ a secret boyfriend, Bucky would take it.

            Collapsing heavily on the couch beside Bucky this time, gaze gone warm with sympathy, Steve reached out towards Bucky, before he seemed to catch himself, and let his hand fall instead.

            “Are you… okay?”

            Jesus, that was so like Steve. To be blindsided, understandably upset, and then solicitous only seconds later. No wonder Bucky was hopelessly, irrevocably in love.

            “Yeah, Stevie. I’m okay,” Bucky replied softly, before smiling wryly. “Aside from horrible morning sickness that is.”

            “And the baby. Are you… keeping it?” Steve asked hesitantly, his tone making it clear he didn’t want to offend Bucky with the question. But his unwavering supportive expression made it equally clear he supported Bucky no matter what the answer might be.

            “Yeah, I am.” Bucky’s heart pounded at the very idea of anything happening to his little grape. Wiggling in his blankets until they loosened enough to press his hand over the tiniest curve of his stomach once more which had appeared at the same time as the nausea, love for his baby an all-consuming thing, Bucky smiled wider. “I’ll be a good dad, I think.”

            This time, Steve didn’t stop himself, reaching out to lay his hand over Bucky’s on his belly, the intimacy of the gesture making Bucky’s heart pound all the harder.

            “You’re going to be an amazing dad.” The confidence and warmth in Steve’s tone made the love inside of Bucky surge all the harder, so much so that it smothered every other sensation inside of him – fear, worry, guilt over misleading Steve, and even the ever present nausea.

            Staring up into that face that was as warm now as Bucky had envisioned in every day dream, where Bucky told Steve he was having _their_ baby, Bucky’s heart ached all over again. This wasn’t precisely what he’d always hoped for, when this baby his alone, but in this moment, he let himself pretend. When Steve used his free arm to tug Bucky into a hug, Bucky’s face now pressed against the hot skin of Steve’s neck, there was no effort to resist.

            No, this wasn’t what Bucky had been planning since the age of ten when he and little Stevie would play house. But it was close enough.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter! And a particularly long one at that. You may notice the story now has a final chapter count. It is a rough estimate, since I'm writing this as I go, but this story is definitely more than half way through. Thanks for joining me on this ride, lovely readers!

Groaning at the waves of _hungry, hungry, hungry_ his little bump currently the size of a lime was sending him, Bucky rubbed his stomach in a useless attempt to soothe. “I know, baby, we’re getting food soon,” he promised his beloved lime. But said lime, who was currently performing the miracle of developing bones, was not impressed.

            At three months along, Bucky’s body and his baby had at last made peace, morning sickness a thing of the past. Bucky was eminently grateful, except for the fact his stomach now seemed to be making up for lost time, and was ravenous. All. The. Time. Bucky had expected, and even looked forward to experiencing some oddly specific cravings. They made a story for the future, and a way to bore his indifferent offspring. “Why, when I was pregnant with you I ate pickles and ice cream, three times a day!” Bucky was so ready to go into full dad mode, complete with uninteresting stories and terrible jokes. However, so far there were no specific cravings to speak of – unless you counted a craving for _everything_.

            Catching the amused look Steve shot him as they walked towards the restaurant they were meeting their friends at for Sunday morning brunch, Bucky flushed. He’d gotten into the habit of conversing with his little bump. Half to make sure when his baby was born, it would recognize Bucky as its daddy, and half to reaffirm to himself that his miracle was _real._ That he truly was going to, at long last, have his own child. It had become a comforting habit, but that didn’t mean he wanted anyone else to see him lovingly talking to his own abdomen. Yet Steve didn’t take the golden opportunity to tease Bucky. Instead, he simply sped up his walk, to ensure Bucky would get to that all important food that much faster.

            Of all the changes that were occurring, Bucky was finding himself most taken aback by the ones outside of his altering body. Specifically, his relationship with Steve. No longer having to try and hide his pregnancy from his best friend had been a relief, particularly when Bucky had been useless until noon on a daily basis, thanks to that trial which was morning sickness.

            When Bucky confessed to Nat that Steve now knew the truth, Nat had been overjoyed. Until she discovered Steve only knew half the truth, specifically, not the all-important half that Bucky had very intentionally and calmly done this to himself. Then, she’d threateningly described precisely how she would smother the life out of him were he not carrying her future niece or nephew. At that moment, Bucky had decided updating his will was probably not a bad idea, just in case her restraint failed.

            So, Nat and Steve knew he had a bun in the oven, and the relief of not having to hide it from either, particularly now that the muscled planes of his stomach had turned into the smallest curve that Bucky loved more than life, was immense. As far as payoffs for being honest went, Bucky figured that was as good as it got. Yet… that hadn’t been all. Steve had, for lack of a better phrase, gone completely Alpha on him.

            Bucky hadn’t noticed it at first, too busy trying to eek in work and sleep around violent bouts of barfing. And despite what people might think when presented with Steve’s big, bold, unapologetic personality, the man did have skills for subtly. So Bucky had blinked at the electrolyte enhanced drinks that had shown up in his house, but had been willing to believe he’d bought them then promptly forgot them. Pregnancy brain – forgetfulness was a thing, wasn’t it?

            The times Steve had insisted they slow their jogging pace – once Bucky was able to stand upright in the morning again – claiming a wonky knee had been believable. Despite his size, Steve was unquestionably the klutzier of the two of them, and banged into furniture and walls on a regular basis.

            The nonchalant way Steve would let Bucky have the last slice of pizza, claiming he’d had a huge lunch, when it was typically a gladiator battle to the death, _could_ have been true.

            All of that, individually, had been able to slide. But eventually, even Bucky’s baby dazzled mind couldn’t miss the more telling signs. How Steve more than once had cheerfully yet forcibly bundled Bucky into an excess of layers before letting him step out the door each time they hung out. How Steve would now keep a hand hovering near Bucky’s back as they walked, ready to steer Bucky around any obstacle that might threaten to so much as nudge him. The home cooked meals that had started magically appearing, which somehow didn’t contain a single item on the “Banned Foods List” morosely tapped to the front of the fridge were impossible to miss.

            Bucky might have attributed that last one to Nat, but was fully aware she wasn’t the home cooked meal type. That left only one possible culprit – Steve Rogers. When Bucky had confronted Steve via text about it – admittedly while shoveling one of those incredible meals into his face – Steve had simply said he’d been meal prepping loads lately, and had ended up with more than he could reasonable eat.

            Every last one of these gestures made the Omega in Bucky want to curl into a contended ball and purr over his Alpha’s treatment. It was exactly the sort of sweet, thoughtful gestures he’d always dreamed Steve would show him while pregnant with their child. But that was exactly the crux of it. Steve wasn’t _his_ alpha. This wasn’t _their_ child. And Steve, who had never once shown an inclination to claim Bucky as his own, had no reason to go all protective over Bucky in his delicate state.

            As pure hope and adoration warred with much more pragmatic – and depressing – reason, Bucky could only conclude Steve was reacting to the idea of any of his friends having a child. Bucky was the first in their group to reach this milestone, so clearly that must be it. Steve would be this solicitous and generous and wonderful to any of them.

            Bucky forced himself to remember that yet again when Steve managed to grab the restaurant door before Bucky could so much as reach for the handle, and grandly held it open for him. _Calm down, Barnes, he’s not yours_.

            The moment of resigned sadness was quickly alleviated by the heavenly scents that filled the restaurant, and followed them out to the patio were Nat, Clint, Sam, and Maria already sat. They all greeted the two happily, and if Bucky blushed with pathetic, unrequited love when Steve pulled out the chair for him, well, hopefully everyone else was too busy perusing their menus to notice.

            Diving into his own menu right away, to hide the bright red of his face, Bucky resisted the urge to drool at each decadent offering listed. His intention at the dinner with Steve many weeks ago had been pure. He’d _intended_ to stay on a fat-free, sugar-free, basically fun-free diet for the sake of his lime. But, when everything in sight tempted him like King Midas’s gold, he’d eventually decided so long as he didn’t eat anything from the Banned Food List of Doom – goodbye sushi – he’d be fine. Besides, baby lime didn’t thank him for sad wheat toast and egg whites that left them both feeling even hungrier than when he started.

            With that in mind, Bucky was more than ready with his admittedly large order once the waitress came around to pour mimosas and take food requests. Clint raised an eyebrow when Bucky’s order outstripped his own in volume – something never before seen – but let it go when Bucky replied with a defensive, “What, I’m hungry.” Nat, like the true friend she was, further managed to distract him Clint tugging the neck of her shirt down a bit. With those magnificent boobs in view, Bucky’s appetite was the last thing on Clint’s mind.

            Thirty minutes later though, Clint wasn’t the only one to notice when Bucky had practically hoovered his plate clean, and was eye balling the remainders of everyone else’s brunch. “You going to finish that?” Bucky questioned Sam beadily, who gave him a go ahead wave to the plate of toast Sam hadn’t touched. Eagerly, Bucky piled strawberry jelly on the sour dough slices before munching down with indecent pleasure, making happy noises all the while.

            Bucky didn’t even bother asking Nat before claiming the sausage she’d left on her plate, stabbing it with a fork and throwing down on it like it was his life mission. By the time he was eye balling Clint’s remaining hash browns, the dirty blond frowned while he pulled his plate out of Bucky’s grasp.

            “Dude, what’s going on with you? I’ve never seen you eat this much. Ever.”

            Pouting that the potatoes were beyond reach, Bucky shrugged. “So I’ve turned over a new leaf. A hungry leaf. Whatever.” Frown turning into a smile, he beamed at Steve, who had helpfully snagged Clint’s plate, and slid it in front of the still ravenous Bucky.

            “Aw, hash browns, no,” Clint muttered, as he glared at Steve, the filthy traitor.

            “So he’s eating a lot. Whatever. No one counted the number of pizza slices you put down last game night,” Steve defended Bucky staunchly, giving Clint a stern stare of disapproval when he tried to reclaim his plate, while Bucky tucked into the hash browns like he’d never had a potato before.

            Watching with interest as Steve proceeded to put the last quarter of his omelet on Bucky’s plate, while rubbing the brunet’s back soothingly with his free hand, Maria suddenly shrieked. “Holy shit!”

            Jolting, the entire table stared at her over the outburst, but she had eyes only for Steve and Bucky. “You’re pregnant!”

            Bucky looked up from the omelet with wide eyes, shocked enough to finally be distracted from his ever present hunger. “Uh…”

            Crap. He hadn’t exactly worked out how to tell the rest of his friends about his future bouncing bundle of joy. Though from the light dawning in everyone’s eyes, a variety of expressions running over their faces, it appeared he was past having to figure it out. Maria had done the job for him.

            “Well-”

            “Oh my God, I’m so excited for you two!” Maria shrieked, in a complete departure from her normal calm demeanor. Wait…‘you two’?

            Before Bucky could react, she’d dove out of her chair, and enfolded Bucky and Steve both into an inescapable hug. Squashed awkwardly together, Bucky and Steve shared a look of confusion before she released them to clap her hands together gleefully. Maria – being gleeful. This brunch had taken a turn for the completely unexpected. Bucky wondered if there had been something suspicious in the hash browns.

            “I gotta say, I never thought you and Steve would finally get your shit straight, but I’m so glad you did! Awww, your baby is going to be so adorable!”

            Steve started sputtering in shock, Bucky’s eyes going wide as he realized exactly what she’d meant by ‘you two’. She though Steve and he… Bucky and Steve… that they were… Oh god.

            Sam smacked Steve on the shoulder, grinning broadly. “Congrats my man! We all knew you had it in you to woo Bucky. Well, I mean you took long enough we had our doubts. But I had faith you’d man up and get your boy in the end.”

            Sputtering turning into coughs, Steve grabbed his water glass and started gulping, as Bucky stared at Nat, eyes pleading for help. Nat, wonderful, evil Nat, simply gave him a silent toast with her mimosa glass. And smirked.

            “Dude! A mini Bucky/Steve? A Beve? Way to go guys!” Cheered Clint, hash brown theft forgotten.

            At the horror of someone calling his little lime “Beve”, Bucky finally found his voice.

            “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Steve and I – we didn’t – this isn’t Steve’s baby.” Turning to Steve for help, Bucky watched as something flashed in that blue gaze at his words. Something that had to be relief that Bucky had cleared up the confusion – no matter how much it looked for a split second like regret.

            “Bucky’s right. I’m not – this is Bucky’s baby. But that doesn’t mean we’re any less excited for him, right?”

            A second wave of shock seemed to take over the table at the pronouncement, and it was Natasha who broke the silence. “Of course we are. Congratulations Bucky! We are so damn happy for you. And I for one cannot wait for Bucky Jr to arrive.”

            At her words, and the glare Steve sent the group, chest puffing up as if he was daring them to make a single comment that might hurt Bucky’s feelings, a new round of surprised but genuine congratulations poured over Bucky. Nat, Sam, then even Clint stood up to give him hugs, and the good natured teasing began as Clint gently poked at Bucky’s belly, and stated with all the hash browns in there, he was leaving no room for Bucky Jr. All the while, Steve left his arm draped over the back of Bucky’s chair, a protective circle of warmth that left Bucky feeling safe and loved.

            Smiling shyly, Bucky resisted the urge to curl into Steve’s side, when the point had just been unmistakably made. Steve wasn’t his. But Steve, and his rest of Bucky’s friends, were all here for him, unconditionally supporting him and his little lime. He couldn’t ask for anything more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kind comments! They truly make me soooo happy, and inspire me to try and stay on task with writing :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovely readers! Happy Superbowl Sunday, if you're into that sort of thing! Happy Puppybowl, if you watch that instead! Please enjoy this next installment of this ridiculous story of pining.

“I cannot believe you forced me to come along for this,” Clint whined as Bucky riffled through yet another rack, adding another pair of pants to the stack he already held in one arm.

            Unimpressed, Bucky raised an eyebrow at the man who currently resembled a sullen child, dragged along on a parent’s boring errand.

            “Dude. I specifically told you not to come. You are the one who demanded I bring you.”

            “Fair point. But when you told me you were going clothes shopping, I thought you meant for sweet new band t-shirts. Maybe some sexy lingerie to spice things up! Not fat pants.”

            Bucky cast his eyes towards the heavens, praying for patience. “They’re not fat pants, Clint, they are paternity pants.” Pants he’d resisted buying for far too long. But when his collection of skinny jeans gave up the good fight, and refused to stretch over his ever increasing baby bump, Bucky had been forced to claim defeat.

            Hence the shopping trip today, which he’d _intended_ to conduct by himself, because yes, _maybe_ there was a tiny embarrassment factor at the idea of purchasing pants with an elastic waist band. But when Clint has shown up unannounced minutes prior to Bucky’s planned departure, grousing about being bored with Nat off at work, there had been no swaying the man. And embarrassment or no, Bucky could not delay physical comfort until he could shake Clint loose. Not when his lemon sized progeny was making its dislike for being smushed by skinny jeans known loud and clear.

            “I call them like I see them,” Clint maintained, yet followed Bucky into the fitting room, like a piece of gum on Bucky’s shoe he could not scrape loose. Closing the curtain in the blond’s face, Bucky muttered to himself in annoyance. Until he let loose a groan normally reserved for the bedroom with an audience of exactly no one split the air.

            “Oh my sweet Jesus,” Bucky exclaimed, as Clint ripped back the curtain to make sure Bucky hadn’t gone into a seizure. Or revealed a previously unknown dressing room fetish.

            “What?” Clint demanded, frowning when his eyes landed upon Bucky, who simply stood there, nothing looking amiss. Nothing except the express of sheer bliss on his face – that was a little creepy.

            “This. Is. So. _Comfortable_ ,” Bucky breathed, before breaking into a little booty dance, which Clint found even creepier than the blissed out smile. As Bucky transitioned into something that might have been a rumba, small belly wiggling around, Clint had to laugh. Alright, maybe it was kind of adorable. Kind of. Not that Clint would admit it – he had a reputation to maintain.

            “Stop your two stepping and let me see these things.”

            Obligingly, Bucky finished his dance production with a little twirl before standing still, toes wriggling in happiness. Stepping closer, Clint squinted.

            They looked like normal jeans, the snug, sexy type that showed off Bucky’s enviable thighs - the thick, muscly bastard – until Clint tugged up the hem of Bucky’s shirt, revealing the panel of stretch fabric that ringed the pants like a wide belt. Tugging at the waistband experimentally, Clint lifted an eyebrow, impressed by the give in the fabric.

            “Huh. That does look pretty comfy.”

            “I am wearing these for the rest of my life. Pregnant or not. I don’t even care,” Bucky declared as he stared at the pants with an expression usually reserved for a lover returning from war. Turning to check out his ass in the mirror, which looked pretty damn good if he did say so himself, Bucky couldn’t resist a little twerking. Which just _maybe_ turned into a lot of twerking, Bucky happily going into an impromptu interpretive dance routine where he expressed his unsquashed belly joy, pausing only when he heard a loud, “Aw, pants, yassss,” fill the air.

            Twenty minutes later, the two left the store, in possession of six new pairs of paternity pants. And if only five had been purchased by Bucky, well luckily for Clint, Bucky wasn’t the judgmental type.

 

 

As yet another squeal split the air, Bucky shook his head and turned to Sam. “Are you sure we aren’t actually baby shopping for you and Maria? Cause it sure sounds like it.”

            Folding his arms across his chest, Sam chuckled as they watched the typically composed, elegant brunette dashing around Baby’s R Us store, making the sorts of noises people typically reserved for adorable kitten videos.

            Unlike the weekend before when Clint had shown up and bogarted Bucky’s shopping trip, this Saturday Bucky had opened his door to the couple who had declared they were taking him on a shopping excursion to buy baby gifts, and they weren’t accepting no for an answer. Though neither one of them were a match for Bucky in muscle, they’d had no trouble yanking him out of his apartment when he was too busy tearing up with an abundance of emotion over the kindness of the gesture to try and resist. At four months along, Bucky had abandoned all hope of keeping any sort of control over his hormone driven emotions – or his tear ducts.

            Bucky had happy anticipated that a baby shower might be in his future, when Nat had already added him to a Pinterest board bursting with baby shower ideas. But since he was still five months away from his due date, Bucky had not expected any sort of gifts now. Yet as everyone who ever met her quickly learned – Maria was a force to be reckoned with. Probably why she and Nat got along so well.

            “Nope, whatever it is she’s shoving in that cart is definitely for you,” Sam assured Bucky, who did his best not to tear up again.

            “You guys really don’t have to-” Bucky tried one more time, subsiding only when Sam turned a laid a hand on his shoulder.

            “Of course we don’t have to. But we want to. We are so happy for you Bucky,” Sam spoke, sincerity pouring off of him. Sniffling, Bucky nodded.

            “And…” Sam paused, as though considering his next words, “No matter what the situation is, I just want you to know that you aren’t in this alone. We are all here for you, in whatever way you need.”

            Shit. This was exactly the conversation he’d been hoping to avoid, though how he’d been deluded enough to think he could manage that for nine months was beyond him. After Steve’s statement at brunch that the baby was Bucky’s – the implication that it belonged to him alone coming through loud and clear – no one had since brought up the subject of who the Alpha that had biologically contributed to Bucky’s condition might be.

            Obviously, Nat already knew. And Steve, after his heart-felt declarations, never once asked about what he believed to be a one night stand. Bucky had wondered if Clint would ask, yet for all of his casual, bumbling appearances, the man was sensitive enough not to touch on a subject Bucky clearly didn’t want to discuss.

            Sam though – the unofficial therapist of the group – would obviously not let that lay. Not out of any intrusiveness, but rather a genuine need to assure himself that Bucky was okay.

            Swallowing around the tightness in his throat, from both the sentiment behind Sam’s words, and the reminder that he would be raising a baby without an Alpha by his side, Bucky drew a deep, calming breath. “That means a lot. I’m really grateful for you guys.”

            Checking to make sure Maria was still fully engrossed in comparing baby blankets, gushing over the softness, Sam gave Bucky’s shoulder a squeeze. “About your baby – I just have to ask – are you sure you want to be a single parent? Are you sure you need to?”

            From anyone else, Bucky would have bristled at the judgement. But from Sam, he knew there _was_ no judgement. Simply a desire to make sure Bucky had considered all his choices.

            “The Alpha – there’s no chance they want to be involved?” Sam quietly persisted. That at least, was easy enough to answer.

            “No. They don’t know, and trust me when I say they wouldn’t want to,” Bucky assured him. There was a reason donors did not release their identity, and neither did those who used their services. Anonymity was a luxury they paid for. Though Bucky couldn’t speak to what the Alpha got out of the exchange, it made perfect sense to him as an Omega. No one wanted to take the chance an unknown entity might show up at any time, and try to make a claim on their baby. Sam seemed to absorb that, before he nodded slowly.

            “That choice is yours, and I respect it. But that said, that still doesn’t mean you can’t have someone in this with you.”

            Confused now, Bucky looked up from the display of improbably tiny onesies he’d been staring at in an effort to hold back yet another flood of tears. Seeing the question in his face, Sam continued. “Steve… I’m not going to ask what is going on with you guys. But I’ve never seen him like this. He’s so damn excited and happy for you. Have you considered that maybe-” Sam trailed off delicately.

            Jesus, if only Sam knew. That with every waking and most sleeping moments Bucky dreamed about Steve being his Alpha. Bucky was certain at this point the blond was trying to kill him. Particularly when Steve had spotted the photo of Bucky’s ultrasound stuck on the fridge, and had completely lost his Alpha mind. Steve had been so genuinely enthused at the picture, insisting that Bucky point out what every little blob of white floating in black was. Bucky couldn’t be entirely sure, considering that when Wanda had glided the wand across his stomach, pointing out the shape of his baby on the monitor, Bucky had been bawling his eyes out. With joy of course – but it didn’t leave him with a whole lot of understanding of what he’d been trying to look at through tear filled eyes.

            Fortunately Wanda had been understanding as always, and Steve was too thrilled over the photo to be disappointed that Bucky couldn’t do much more than point at the large white shape and say “This is my apple baby.”

            At which point, Steve had done the unthinkable. Taking a note from Bucky’s own book, Steve had started to _speak to his bump_. A soft, lilting, adoring tone in his voice that Bucky had never once heard before. All the while a deep, Alpha rumble had built in his chest, as though to reassure Bucky’s apple of his safety, and that this Alpha was here to protect him no matter what. As Steve had gently told the little bump just how amazing it was, and how big it had grown, and how happy Steve would be when they finally met, there had been nothing for it. Bucky burst into tears all over again.

            Fortunately, Steve was too used to Bucky crying at this point to wonder what caused the torrent of tears that followed. There was no way Bucky would tell him it was caused not only by the wonder of his baby, but also how that moment was every fantasy he’d ever dreamed. Steve thrilled for the arrival of Bucky’s baby. It was so easy to pretend in that second, that is was _their_ baby.

            But it was just pretend, and for all of Steve’s enthusiasm, which apparently others had noticed too, Steve had not spoken a single word about wanting to be Bucky’s Alpha. Which left the Omega precisely where he’d always been. Hopeless with longing, with no end in sight.

            “It’s not – it’s not like that,” Bucky managed at last.

            Sam looked unconvinced, but thankfully, let it go. “If you say so. Either way, fatherhood is a good look for you, buddy. And Maria is definitely jealous of your glowing skin.”

            Laughing, Bucky shook his head. “You can tell her it’s a trade-off for the constant backache.” While his apple-sized baby may not weight much yet, the effect it was having on his body was significant. But what was a little pain, when the end result was his own little baby that would apparently fit into a onesie the size of a hot dog bun.

            “I think she’d be willing to take that trade,” Sam mused as Maria hurried over them to show them her latest finds, including a ridiculously adorable plush puppy, before hurrying off again.

            It was Bucky’s turn to look at his friend speculatively now. “You guys thinking of having a little bowling ball of your own?” A wide grin spread across his face at the thought.

            “We’ve been talking about it. Leaning more towards the doing it, especially since Maria found out about you. She loves the idea of having kids near the same age so they can be friends.”

            Heart achingly sweetly at the sentiment, Bucky pulled Sam into a back slapping hug. “That’s amazing man. I’m really happy for you two. And hey, I’ll always be down for playdates with our spawn.”

            Sam rolled his eyes yet grinned. “Charming, thanks. But until then, I’m counting on you to figure out what the hell this is, and why you need it.” Lifting a contraption that resembled nothing he’d ever seen, he cocked an eyebrow at Bucky.

            Eyeing it warily, Bucky admitted, “I’m a little afraid to find out.” But since it was a gift lovingly given by amazing friends, he’d appreciate it all the same. Maybe just not quite as much as the tiny pants with dinosaurs on them that Maria was now waving in their faces ecstatically. He was pretty sure his little apple would agree.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... many a lovely reader has expressed their frustration, and belief that Steve and Bucky need to GET IT TOGETHER. Without providing too many spoilers, let me just say... The next chapter is the one you've been waiting for!!! :D Until then, I adore hearing nice words from you. Cheers!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise!!! I'm sure none of you expected the next chapter so quickly... but as this is the most pivotal chapter, I could not hold out a full week! Particularly since it's actually the first chapter I ever wrote on this story, so I've been dying to share it. Without further ado, please enjoy the moment we've all be waiting for.

Waking up to the unmistakable sound of hammering, Bucky blinked at the ceiling in confusion, mind racing as he recalled the steps immediately preceding the midday nap he’d laid down for an hour earlier. There had been that giant bowl of ice cream he’d consumed, after his not so little bump had been sending him hungry cravings all morning. Then he’d attempted to sit down to some work, but the combination of a full belly and five months of pregnancy had him nearly passing out at his desk. At which point, Bucky had given in to the inevitable, giving his banana sized baby a talking to about how he needed to stay awake long enough to work and support them both, as he headed towards his bed for a restorative nap. At which point, there had been no construction projects going on in his apartment.

            Hearing cursing, and a thud joining the sound of hammering, Bucky wondered if Bob Villa had broken into his house. Maybe he was fixing the wonky cabinet in the kitchen. But since it was far more likely some robber had broken in instead, and was now conducting mindless destruction to his hapless coffee table, Bucky heaved himself off his bed, grabbing the bat leaning in the corner of his room before cautiously making his way to the living room. Where he didn’t find Bob Villa, but he didn’t find a robber taking out a vendetta against Ikea furniture either. Instead, there was one Steve Rogers. Assembling what could only be a crib.

            Glancing up, Steve caught sight of Bucky hovering in the doorway, wearing an expression that could only be described as befuddled, and beamed. “Hey Buck! I was hoping to get this finished up while you were sleeping. How are you feeling? Are you hungry? I brought over some of that Thai food you love. Nothing too spicy, that will give you heartburn like you’ve been getting lately. I can go grab it and heat it up for you if you want.”

            Stunned, Bucky stared at Steve, who was grinning up at him from the floor, surrounded by pieces of crib, and a set of instructions that looked more involved than the plans for the next NASA space shuttle. Then he glanced over to the kitchen counter, where he saw a giant bag paper bag of Thai food, sitting next to the vitamins Steve had been cajoling him to take. Yet those weren’t the only signs that sang of Steve in the apartment.

            There was the books Steve had tugged Bucky to the book store and bought after one of their recent jogs – or rather, slow walks given Steve’s fear of hurting Bucky or the baby – on birthing. Bucky had always intended to buy the books to begin with as his pregnancy progressed, yet the last thing he’d expected was for Steve to come back home with him, and read then out loud, all while pulling Bucky’s feet into his lap and giving him a blissful foot rub.

            There, draped over the arm of the couch, was the baby blanket Steve was laboriously knitting, coming over on the Saturdays that had previously been their pub nights to work on it. When he’d shown up one evening, bags of knitting needs and yarn in hand, Bucky had been too distracted by the unexpected paraphernalia to insist Steve didn’t need to stay home with him just because he was knocked up and unable to drink. Instead, he’d demanded to know where the heck Steve had learned to knit.

            Steve’s reply – “I don’t know how, but Youtube had gotta be good for something other than workout music, right?” – had Bucky fighting back tears that he would swear were pregnancy hormone related, because he was _not_ crying at the idea of his giant, masculine, Alpha best friend learning to knit for the sake of his baby alone. The beginning edge of the blanket was a bit wonky where Steve had still been learning proper needle technique, but by the middle of the cloud soft blanket, he’d hit his stride.

            There in the corner was the pile of baby items that seemed to grow each time Bucky glanced at it, from the tiniest of onesies, diapers, burp clothes, to soft toys that just begged to be cuddled. While the pile had started with Maria and Sam’s contributions, more than one article were things he’d never seen before, and had definitely not bought himself. It had been Steve.

            All of Bucky’s friends had been supportive since they’d learned the news. Clint had offered babysitting services, and instantly demanded how many days old Bucky Jr had to be before it could eat pizza. Natasha has solemnly sworn she’d never let Clint be alone with his child. Sam had continued to be a cool voice of reason when Bucky experienced his routine “Oh God, what made me think I was fit to be a parent” panic attacks. But Steve… it was Steve’s reaction that continued to floor Bucky.

            Steve, who was treating this pregnancy, and _Bucky_ , the way that Bucky had always dreamed. As though nothing was more important to him than this new life. As thought the baby were his. It was everything Bucky had ever wanted. And each amazing new thing Steve did broke his heart. Staring now at the crib Bucky had sworn he would assemble before his not exactly little bump got any bigger and made the task impossible, then up into Steve’s earnest face, his heart fractured completely.

            Dropping the bat held in one limp hand, Bucky lifted both hands to bury his face inside them. And began to sob.

            “Jesus, are you okay? Bucky what’s wrong?” Steve demanded, instantly on his feet, and wrapping Bucky in a hug that only made him sob harder. Rubbing a hand down Bucky’s back, Steve cupped Bucky’s neck with the other, tucking Bucky’s face against his chest. The soothing rumble coming from the Alpha, paired with his scent sharpened by concern, and that warm hand smoothing down his spine was enough to make Bucky want to simply _melt_ into the other man. To take the comfort that was being offered, and so much more. To fist his hand in Steve’s hair, to pull that mouth down to his own, and demand everything, rather than this illusion that was killing him more day by day.

            Instead, Bucky shoved back, a shouted “Stop it!” ripped from his lungs. Chest heaving, Bucky stared up at Steve, and it was impossible to say which of them was more shocked by the outburst. Yet the fracture in control was all that it took, for all of the things Bucky had been holding inside for months, for _years_ , to come tumbling out.

            “Damn it Steve, just stop it! Stop it with the crib, the blanket, the food, just everything! Stop being so fucking perfect, and making me want things I can’t have. Making me want them even more than I’ve always wanted them.”

            Stricken, Steve made as though to reach for Bucky once more, then looked as though he’d been slapped, and dropped his hand when Bucky jerked out of reach. “Bucky-”

            Turning away, unable to look into that face that he adored more than life, Bucky folded his arms protectively around himself. Attempting to hold himself together as he felt himself falling apart. Christ, he’d already said more than he’d ever meant to say. Yet now it felt impossible to stop. Part of him didn’t even _want_ to. Bucky wanted his words to push Steve away, because as much as it broke his heart, it couldn’t be any worse than this pretend life where everything he needed seemed so close but just out of reach.

            “I’ve never asked you for anything Steve. Not to date me, not to be my Alpha, not to breed me. I _know_ you never wanted any of that. So I decided it was time for me to just make the best of it, and try to have the one thing I could have. To be a parent, to have this baby. I was okay with that, doing it alone. But now – fuck, now it’s like you are the dad just like I always dreamed and I can’t take it. I can’t stand you acting like you want this baby when you don’t want me along with it.”

            There it was. The painful truth he’d been hiding all this time, the inescapable reality. That as much as Bucky valued Steve’s friendship, he _needed_ so much more. Despite how greedy and selfish it made him feel. Despite how unworthy he must be, not to simply treasure the fact his best friend was so happily anticipating the arrival of Bucky’s baby. There was no more hiding just how deep and long and terribly he’d been _aching_ for everything Steve could possibly give. And when he knew it was more than Steve would ever want to share, this was it. The moment when Bucky managed to push him away for good. Because who could stand to remain in a relationship that was so unbalanced, without the burden of an unrequited taking its toll?

            “You never dated…” Steve spoke softly, as though it were a revelation. Or possibly an explanation, Bucky couldn’t be sure. Swiping at the tears still streaming down his face with shaking hands, Bucky puffed out a laugh that held no humor.

            “No. No one was you.”

            Steve took a small step forward, as though edging towards a wild animal on the verge of running. And fuck if that wasn’t precisely how Bucky felt. Yet the purge of decades of silenced emotions left him feeling too drained to do more than stare dully at Steve. He was prepared for Steve to tell him he never had, and never could feel the same. Prepared for Steve took keep walking, right past Bucky, and straight out the door. Bucky deserved no less.

            “Bucky, you never _dated_. I just assumed… I always thought you were aromantic.”

            It was Bucky’s turn to blink in shock. That was the last thing he’d expected. “What?”

            Steve carefully took Bucky’s shoulders in his hands, the grasp gentle, but firm. Unyielding. “Bucky, I love you. I’m _in_ love with you. I have wanted to be with you since I was old enough to understand what that meant.”

            Bucky stared at Steve. Heart stumbling before it simply stopped. Unable to reconcile the words his ears were insisting he heard, when his mind _knew_ they could not be true. Steve _loved_ him? Steve loved _him_?

            As Steve continued to meet his gaze, nothing but earnest honesty in those features he knew better than he knew his own, Bucky’s lips parted, trembling. Or maybe it was his entire being shaking, because what he was hearing was shattering his reality. Threatening to completely break him apart. If Steve didn’t mean it… If he did…

            “But – you never- you never said-”

            Steve smiled at that. One of those heartbreaking smiles that was sadness poorly masked with the curving of lips. “Cause it was _you_ , Bucky. Jesus, just look at you. You’ve always been so incredible, and handsome, and here I was, this skinny, runty little Alpha with twiggy arms and a too big head. There was no way I could ask you out. Fuck, the time it took me to try and be brave enough to do it... You remember that time in middle school, when everyone was trying so hard to get a date to that winter dance?”

            Bucky could only nod dumbly. He did remember, wishing more than anything that Steve would be _his_ date.

            “At least six different Alphas asked you out. You turned em all down. I asked you why, and you said you didn’t want to date them. So I figured you just weren’t ready for a date if you’d turn down the most popular guys in school. But then… you never dated _anyone_. Ever. And finally I just made myself accept that it was something you didn’t want. By the time I had the courage to ask you out, I couldn’t do that – put you on the spot, and make things awkward between us, when I knew you didn’t want someone romantic in your life. That’s why, when I thought you’d been dating someone who got you pregnant, I kind of lost it. I couldn’t believe you were seeing someone, when all this time, I wanted you to be seeing me.”

            At that, sadness turned into a look of shame, as though he expected Bucky to be anything other but dazzled and blown away by the admission. As though every single word wasn’t all of Bucky’s darkest, deepest dreams coming true. Steve loving him. Steve wanting him. Steve being jealous at the mere _possibility_ of someone else in his life.

            Stunned, Bucky stood there, staring up into Steve’s eyes through a new sheen of tears, looking back on all those times, all those dates he’d turned down, desperately waiting for the only one he truly wanted. The one that, through misunderstandings, had never come. Jesus.

            “You… you love me?” Bucky choked out. Because despite the way the thought of all those years that were lost stabbed at his heart, this was the important point. The only thing that mattered.

            Shifting closer yet so that their bodies were brushing, the curve of Bucky’s belly pressing into the heat of Steve’s taunt abdomen, Steve slid his hands up to cup Bucky’s face carefully, as though he were unsure of his welcome. Delicately, as though Bucky were the most precious of treasures. “I love you Bucky. It’s always been you.”

            Another sob threatened to rip of out Bucky’s throat, and it was through sheer will alone that he managed to say “It’s always been you Steve. I love you too.”

            And suddenly Bucky wasn’t dreaming and wishing and imaging the feel of Steve’s lips on his own. For the first time in his life, he was _feeling_ it.

            Still careful, Steve brushed those plush lips against Bucky’s, the softest, lightest touch of mouth on mouth. Bucky had the sudden, shocking understanding that if everything that Steve had said was true - and as difficult as it all was to believe, Steve would not lie about something so huge – then this moment had to be equally as overwhelming for Steve as it was for himself. Steve, who had loved Bucky for years, and believed Bucky incapable of returning those feelings. As intoxicating as this slow, delicate melding of lips was, it was the kiss of a man who still couldn’t quite be certain he was allowed this.

            Despite the way his body still trembled, Bucky no longer clutched himself in a futile attempt to hold himself together. Instead, he threw his arms around Steve’s neck, determined that they would hold each other, and took the kiss from nearly hesitant to desperate in an flash of burning heat. And Jesus, the noise Steve made in response, almost _wounded_ it was so needy, how had Bucky gone his whole life without ever having heard it before?

            All in an instant, Bucky lost complete control of the kiss, and handed it over enthusiastically as Steve, _Alpha_ , back him into the wall, nipping sharply at Bucky’s bottom lip before sweeping his tongue deep inside. No longer a man uncertain of his welcome, but a man staking his claim. Grateful for the wall at his back, and the firm strength of Steve at his front holding him up, Bucky let out a keening moan at the taste of Steve, which was every bit as addicting as he’d always imagined. And God, Steve’s scent, the always heady aroma, was deepening and warming, the autumn notes set ablaze with the unmistakable smell of lust. For _Bucky_.

            Gasping for breath as Steve dragged his mouth along Bucky’s jaw line, before licking wetly over his neck, teeth teasing Bucky’s own scent glands, Bucky was mindless seconds away from begging Steve to _bite_ , to bind them together now, now, now, when the only thing that could have pulled him back to conscious thought occurred. Bucky grunted at the nudge that came from within, his bump kicking so hard that Steve felt it too, pressed together as they were.

            As one, Steve and Bucky looked down at the round swell of Bucky’s belly, the physical proof of just what had landed them here in each other’s arms. Swallowing, Bucky wanted to cry all over again when Steve’s hands, which had been so hard and eager on his body now slid gently over his abdomen, touching him with reverence. When their eyes met once more, despite the flush of arousal still darkening Steve’s skin, there was so much tenderness in Steve’s gaze, Bucky had no idea how he didn’t just melt into a pile of Omega jelly straight to the floor.

            “Bucky, when you said you want me to be the dad – I want that too. More than anything. It doesn’t matter who the father is. All that matters is that this baby is _yours_. And I promise you, I already love it like it’s my own. Even if … if the biological Alpha shows up, you need to know, I will be here for you. I’ll never let either of you go,” Steve swore, the scent of protectiveness and determination washing over Bucky in waves. Who drowned willingly in them, before his adoration brain caught up with Steve’s words. And fuck. There was still one more thing that he had to confess. Not that Steve ever had to know – but Bucky couldn’t take this first step into a life together with Steve worrying about some unknown Alpha staking a claim. Not when there had never been another Alpha in Bucky’s life, and never would be.

            “Steve I, there’s something that I need to- uh, maybe we should sit down,” Bucky began haltingly, when his legs were ready to just give out at this point from the ping pong game his emotions were on. Despair, shock, incredulous disbelief, joy beyond reason, and now… something not quite, but close to shame.

            Practically before the words were out of his mouth, Steve had swept him up and deposited him on the couch, and then curled up at his side, taking both of Bucky’s hands in his own. Wondering if it would be easier to say this if they weren’t touching, Bucky huffed out a breath, tightening his grip. No. He would spend the rest of his life touching Steve, if he only had the choice.

            “About how I got pregnant – I have to tell you the truth Steve. It wasn’t an accident, and it didn’t just happen. I got pregnant on purpose.”

            Bucky watched the play of emotions flickering over Steve’s face. Surprise, confusion, the first edges of hurt. “But, who-“

            “I don’t know who the father is,” Bucky answered the obvious question, then quickly rushed on, squeezing Steve’s hands tighter when Steve looked completely stunned. “I went to a fertility clinic, Steve. I have wanted to be a dad for so long, that I decided if it was ever going to happen, I had to make it happen. So, I went off my suppressants, and, well, got pregnant.” If it were possible, Steve went paler yet.

            “But, that means you, or rather we, never have to worry about someone showing up, trying to lay a claim on this baby. It’s mine. Or, ours, if you still want that,” Bucky rushed to reassure Steve. Though seeing the completely staggered expression on Steve’s face, Bucky _himself_ felt in need of reassurance. He didn’t regret what he’d done for a second, not when it had given him his bump which he loved more than life. But could Steve feel the same?

            “A clinic,” Steve repeated softly. “So, you don’t know who-”

            “Who the donor is? No, for privacy protection all around, I don’t.   The Alpha doesn’t know who accepted his sperm either. But, uh, even when I decided to do this on my own, I still wished I was having a baby with you. Even picked out a bio that could have been you. Natasha thought I was ridiculous, but it just felt like… like the closest I would ever get to having your baby,” Bucky admitted, voice gone nearly a whisper at the admission. The final revealing of the deepest layers of his heart, that even at that most lonely of times, had still beat for Steve.

            Throat working convulsively, Steve stared down at Bucky’s belly, covered in a well-worn sleep shirt, before looking up to meet Bucky’s gaze once more. And now, it was Steve’s gaze that was glimmering with unshed tears. “Alpha 203?” Steve choked out.

            Bucky’s mouth parted in shock. “How could you know-”

            “Bucky, it’s me. I _am_ Alpha 203.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OF COURSE IT WAS STEVE!!! For those of you who guessed it - yes I'm sure it wasn't much of a twist. But hey, I'm not the Da Vinci Code writer - simply a girl who loves these boys. XD Stay tuned for the next chapter, where we find out Steve's motivation. As always, happy comments make me happy! Thank you so much for reading, and your positivity and love towards this story.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I told you lately, you are amazing? Cause you are amazing! The number of comments on the last chapter just blew me away. For those of you who saw it coming all along - well done. For the few of you that didn't... thank you for letting me feel like I wrote a bit of a plot twist. ^_^ Without further ado, please enjoy the next chapter!

Steve’s words were an echoing loop in Bucky’s head, barely audible over the throbbing sound of his own heartbeat. Crashing, frenetic, almost panicked yet not quite. He’d heard what Steve had said, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around the statement, couldn’t _understand_ just what Steve meant.

            “You… what?”

            Steve was staring at Bucky, the shock coursing through Bucky’s body every bit as apparent on Steve’s face. Yet he shook his head as though to clear his thoughts, and managed to reply, “I’ve been donating at the clinic for a few years. I’d read about what a struggle it is for some couples to conceive, and I wanted to help. But that wasn’t the only reason.”

            Steve paused, biting his lip as he looked down at Bucky’s hands held in his own, tightening his grip nearly painfully before visibly forcing himself to relax it. As though he was intent to keep Bucky by his side, and feared Bucky would pull away.

            “I always wanted babies, a family,” Steve continued, the rough catch in his voice the aching sound of someone confessing. “But I only wanted them with you. And I thought I would never have that-” This time it was Bucky’s hands that vised tightly, clutching Steve’s almost frantically at the words Bucky could hardly accept, yet was so desperate to believe. “I thought if I could never have my own children, the least I could do was help someone else with that.”

            God, it was so completely _Steve_ , Bucky thought with love so overwhelming it was almost despair. Here Bucky had spent his life longing for something for himself, and Steve had gone and tried to help others instead. Even as his eyes dampened all over again, it wasn’t until he felt yet another nudge inside of himself, this one not violent, but a soft bump that seemed to say “I’m here,” that Bucky absorbed the enormity of precisely what this revelation meant.

            “Steve,” he whispered, tugging their tangle of hands until it rested over the evidence of the choices they’d _both_ made. “Steve, that means you’re the father. Steve this is your baby.”

            Naked emotion shifted over Steve’s face. Dawning realization, as though despite his confession that he was the Alpha Bucky had picked in a twist of fate that seemed to prove at last they were meant to be, no matter the years they’d stood in their own way, he hadn’t truly comprehended precisely what that meant. There was wonder, as Steve stared down at the bump that was everything they’d _both_ wanted, no matter that Bucky could barely believe it.

            Above all, coating every other emotion was love. A love so strong Bucky could not imagine how Steve had managed to hide it for so long. How Bucky, who had been so sure he knew every part of Steve, could have missed the fact that he himself was the biggest piece of Steve’s heart.

            “Bucky. We’re having a baby,” Steve managed to choke out, tears, unashamed and pure glistening in those blue eyes that were Bucky’s own personal sky. Eyes their baby might inherit. Dazzled all over again that his already loved bump was just as much Steve’s as his own, Bucky let out a laugh that was bewildered and dazed and so fucking happy. Steve’s hands which had always been gentle, were now tender and adoring and Bucky could hardly stand it.

            Steve sketched hearts and secret letters over the small curve of Bucky’s belly, his fingertips telling the story of his own love for the unborn wonder snuggled warm and happy inside. Absorbing the sensation through his skin, straight to his heart, Bucky realized that despite the convoluted manner they’d gotten here, he wouldn’t change a thing.

            If he’d never had the bravery to chance making a family on his own, he would not be here now, with his baby growing within, as physically close to Bucky’s heart as anyone or anything had ever been. And if he hadn’t created this little miracle of cells and tiny hands and tiny feet, a second heart beating inside of Bucky, then he might never have confessed to Steve the shape of his dreams. And if he had never done _that_ – then he would never had discovered the soul illuminating revelation that was Steve admitting his own feelings.

            Bucky had done this. Through means and twists he could never have envisioned, Bucky had built the family he’d always dreamed. And this moment was more brilliant than he could ever have imagined.

            Before Bucky could even register the movement, Steve had hauled Bucky up to straddle his lap, arms wrapped tight as though he would never let go. Burrowing into the embrace, Bucky was confident he could happily stay in Steve’s arms forever. Where he’d always wanted to be. As he lingered in the moment he thought could not be more perfect, Bucky was proven wrong when Steve lifted his hands to cup Bucky’s face. “You are mine. Forever.”

            Steve’s tone was adoring and loving – and implacable. Possessive, protective Alpha notes rumbled in his chest, as though defying anyone to challenge his claim. As though daring Bucky to make a protest. As if Bucky would.

            Instead, Bucky shuddered in relief, the last of the years-old pain and hurt and aloneness that had haunted his heart dissipating like smoke blown away by the force of Steve’s declaration. A wind strong enough to rearrange everything within him, and sweep it clean, until nothing shadowed and bitter could possibly remain. Only love.

            “I’m yours. Alpha,” Bucky whispered, his words a promise, and an expression of thanks all in one. His lips brushed Steve’s as he spoke. Which made it all the easier for Steve to yank him forward, and crush their mouths together in a conversation that needed no words at all.

            _I love you. I’ve got you_ , Steve swore with each drugging drag of his lips over Bucky’s.

            _I love you. Please keep me_ , Bucky begged as he clutched at those impossibly broad shoulders with greedy, almost desperate fingers. Then he was gasping into that hungry mouth, grasping at muscle with shock when Steve abruptly stood, lifting Bucky with him, before heading away from the crib he was building for _their_ baby, and walked with purpose towards Bucky’s bed instead.

            “Steve?” Bucky managed, hope and need tangled in his voice.

            Meeting Bucky’s questioning eyes as he effortlessly carried the Omega, a smile took over Steve’s face. The love, the adoration, it was all there, glowing from him like a flame. Yet above it all was desire, unmistakable, the fire of lust from earlier that their conversation had interrupted now a raging inferno. And God, how Bucky longed to burn in that glorious heat.

            “What kind of Alpha can I be, getting my Omega pregnant without knotting him? Without claiming him?” Steve questioned, the rumbling in his chest growing, his voice rough with it. It only grew stronger when Bucky shuddered in reaction, exquisite pleasure shooting down his spine at the mere _thought_ of Steve at last locking them together with his teeth and his cock. Even so, he couldn’t help but reply with teasing sarcasm. Because no matter the importance of this moment, he was still Bucky, and this was still Steve. They were still _them_.

            “A pretty damn lazy one, from the sounds of it,” Bucky deadpanned, before letting out a yelp of surprise when Steve tossed him onto his bed, albeit gently. Still, by the time Bucky had bounced on the mattress, shoved his hair from his face, and managed to prop himself up on his elbows, Steve had already stripped off his shirt, revealing _acres_ of golden skin and deliciously defined muscle. Mouth suddenly dry, while between his legs he grew slick, Bucky could only swallow helplessly as Steve prowled forward, the ultimate hunter, Bucky his very fortunate prey. Confidence etched in his features, tone smugly cocky, Steve smirked at the challenge. “Good thing I have tomorrow off. In twenty four hours, we’ll just see who the lazy one is.”

            Blinking, more than a bit dazed at the dazzling prospect, Bucky watched as Steve began to unzip his jeans. Twenty four hours? Sweet Jesus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I'd intended this chapter to be a smutty bonanza... but life has been crazy and I didn't want to keep you hanging, waiting for a chapter for tooooo long. So please enjoy this prelude, and rest assured that the next chapter will be ALL THE SMUTTTTTT. *stares off into distance, thinking steamy thoughts*


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, it took longer than I wanted to be able to write and post this. But life happens! At last, we are here, with the chapter everyone has been waiting for ;) That said, if you've ever read my work, you know the smutty chapters tend to end up wayyyyy longer than all the rest! This time was so exception. So, to try and keep things a bit more regular, I split the sexy chapter into two. But fear not! I'm posting them both right away, so you don't need to wait for the steamy conclusion.

Staring down at Bucky, laid before him like the most decadent offering, Steve could hardly believe the Omega was _his_. That Steve was free to touch and taste and take, in all the ways he’d fantasized about for a lifetime. More importantly, he had the opportunity to use everything he was and all that he knew to please Bucky. To have him was a blessing, and Steve wanted Bucky to feel more adored than the brunet knew was possible, because he _was_.

            The prospect was so overwhelming that Steve hardly knew where to start, as his eyes skimmed over Bucky, sprawled so enticingly across the bed. Hair disheveled, flush painting sharp cheekbones, eyes dark as though Steve had already knotted him a dozen times over. But when Steve’s gaze lowered to that mouth, parted and enticing, glistening as Bucky panted out little breaths that seemed to have a direct link to Steve’s cock, Steve knew precisely where to start.

            Toeing his shoes off, Steve climbed onto the bed, absently appreciating the plushness of the mattress because his Omega deserved only the softest sweetest things, before slowly prowling over Bucky, caging him beneath his arms and legs. It was an intensely protective gesture, and Steve had no desire to hold back the basic Alpha instinct to claim and guard his Omega against the world. Eyes locked on those sculpted lips all the while, Steve shook his head in disbelief. “The number of times I’ve drawn that mouth…” Watching that very mouth tremble with something that in no way resembled fear was a million dreams come true. The miracle of seeing the physical proof of Bucky’s lust for him – Jesus, for _him_ – paled in comparison though, to the scent.

            The unmistakable scent of Omega, lush and ripe, which had been sweetened by pregnancy and therefore inciting the most protective Alpha instincts of all, had been darkened. No longer lush fruit in sunshine inviting Steve to taste, Bucky’s scent was comparable to the most decadent dessert, intoxicating to the senses, demanding Steve devour him.

            Before Bucky could reply, Steve had given in, and claimed that mouth with his own in a drugging kiss that only enflamed his hunger. Wasting no time, because they’d both wasted enough, Steve nipped that gorgeously sculpted bottom lip, demanding entrance, then licking deep.

            If the scent of Bucky was intoxicating, than the taste of him was inebriating beyond compare, sparks of electricity shimmering beneath Steve’s skin. Bucky’s needy, small, _perfect_ moans only spurred Steve on in a kiss that was a thousand promises of love and devotion and forever. How had he gone his whole life never having heard them? He swore now he’d spend the rest of it being the cause of them, bringing Bucky as much pleasure as humanly possible.

            Carefully braced over Bucky so as not to squish the small but very present bump – their bump, _theirs_ – Steve had no free hands to touch and stroke and learn Bucky the way he wanted. Bucky, however, had no such constraints. Arching beneath Steve’s frame, clearly desperate for any inch of contact he could get, Bucky ran nearly frantic hands over Steve’s chest, his moans turning into whimpers of appreciation for the heavy muscles he found there, before sliding them further down. Only to slide them up once more, this time beneath Steve’s shirt, palms soft and hot against the planes of Steve’s back.

            Managing to tear his mouth from Steve’s greedy lips, Bucky gasped for air. Steve would have chased them, yet found himself presented with the gorgeous length of Bucky’s neck, and yes, of _course_ he needed to worship this new territory with his lips and tongue and teeth. Kissing along the sharp blade of Bucky’s jaw, pausing to lick then tug an ear lobe with gentle teeth, his chest rumbled with pleasure at the keening noise Bucky made in response. Dragging his lips down the length of Bucky’s neck, which was taut as the brunet threw his head back in unmistakable pleasure, Steve’s rumble turned into a growl of pure happiness as he nosed along the scent gland at the base of Bucky’s neck.

            It was the source of the opulent scent that was even now filling the room, mixed with Steve’s own sharper Alpha musk, and it tasted just as sweet. That spot would carry his bite, bonding them together forever. Cock jerking at the thought, Steve reigned his arousal in with the fiercest of control. Bucky deserved more than a hurried bite, a rushed bonding. Steve wanted Bucky to know in every cell of his body, with no shadow of doubt ever again, just how very loved he was. For now, Steve sucked on the spot instead, encouraging a lovely red bruise to the surface of delicate skin, a more temporary sort of mark, yet one he licked over just as gladly.

            “Steve,” Bucky panted, even as he writhed beneath the blond, fingers burying deep into Steve’s muscle, the nearly painful caress pleasing Steve. His Omega was strong, his primal Alpha brain noted with glee, before coherent thought made it through his love and lust hazed mind to realize Bucky wasn’t just saying his name for fun – no matter that hearing his own name in that throaty, arousal stained voice was the epitome of erotic.

           Instantly Steve pulled back enough to catch Bucky’s gaze, enraptured by his blown pupils, darkness eating away the silver of his eyes. “Yes Bucky?” Steve questioned adoringly, lips skimming over his Omega’s as he spoke because the concept of not touching him for even a moment was unthinkable, while still allowing Bucky to speak.

            “I want,” Bucky panted out, pausing to swallow when his voice cracked with need. “Your clothes. Off.” Steve was a slave to Bucky, would give him everything he wanted. But he felt his own pleasure spike at the command, selfishly delighted by this suggestion. Steve grinned wickedly before pushing himself up into a kneeling position. Of course they should be skin to skin. His Omega was smart as well, his primal Alpha brain purred in satisfaction. Stripping his shirt off quickly, Steve shuffled backwards off the bed, so that he could peel off his socks, and then unbutton and kick off his jeans without a thought for where they landed.

            The dark gray boxer briefs stayed for the moment though, when he wasn’t a hundred percent certain he wouldn’t come at the first brush of Bucky against his naked skin, like an Alpha experiencing his very first rut. That was not at all how Steve wanted things to go. About to pounce back on the bed once more, Steve noticed the way Bucky’s gaze _devoured_ him, as though Steve were the most desirable, beautiful creation, rather than the other way around. And he couldn’t help but bask in the heat each burning look filled him with.

            Steve had spent his youth feeling runty and annoyed at his lack of size, of strength, of _everything,_ it had felt like. He’d spent his early adulthood equally as baffled as he was pleased by the growth spurt, learning what it meant to be an Alpha all over again when his size finally demanded the respect he’d always longed for. Which was crap – size had nothing to do with a person’s worth, Alpha or Omega, and it frustrated him that an extra foot in height and a hundred pounds in muscle was what it took for him to be considered worthy. Still, Steve couldn’t deny it was nice to not be dismissed after a single glance.

            He’d spent his recent years at last at home in his skin, confident of who he was both inside and out. But nothing had ever filled him with such pride as seeing Bucky stare at him as though Steve was the only Alpha he’d ever wanted. Which Steve apparently _was_ , he recalled again with a sense of wonder. The only Omega Steve had ever tried to feel Alpha enough for, and worthy of, had loved him all along. And oh, how he intended to use every inch of his frame now to show his gratefulness for that love.

            Climbing over Bucky once more, Steve _may_ have flexed his arms and pecs more than strictly necessary. But with that dark gaze eating it up, he felt no shame. As far as Steve was concerned, his body was Bucky’s to enjoy and do with as he pleased. Leaning forward to brush their lips together once more, lightly, yet no less adoringly, it was Steve who pulled back first.

            “What do you want Bucky? Anything at all – just tell me,” Steve coaxed, bracing himself on one arm, the better to trace reverent fingertips over the face he loved more than life.

            Staring back up at Steve as though he had no idea how he’d gotten here, or what to do now that he was here, Bucky gripped Steve’s hips with hands that clenched tightly.

            “I… I want you to knot me,” Bucky breathed, and Jesus that sounded even better spoken aloud than Steve could ever have imagined. Feeling pre-come leaking from his dick when they hadn’t even truly begun, Steve groaned and rewarded Bucky with another drugging kiss. However when he shifted, moving to grab the hem of Bucky’s soft shirt, Bucky’s grasping hands flew from his hips to grasp Steve’s wrists instead in a grip that was almost punishing. Feeling the tremor in them, Steve let go immediately, concern spiking.

            “Bucky, what’s wrong?” he questioned, brows furrowing at the way a flush of a different shade crept over Bucky’s skin. His expression was no longer one of lust, but rather embarrassment. Something Steve could not begin to comprehend, when every part of Bucky was perfect.

            “It’s just-“ Bucky let out a little huff, part embarrassment, part exasperation. “I’ve thought about this so many times.” When Bucky shot Steve a glance, the Alpha realized the growling rumbling from his throat had grown louder at the eroticism of that idea, and contritely tried to quiet it. “But I never imagined when it finally did happen I’d look like this,” Bucky finished softly, glancing away once more.

            Steve only felt more confused than when Bucky had started. Looked what? Exquisite? Divine? Like everything Steve had ever wanted? Steve couldn’t fathom what Bucky had to feel discomfited about. Until he saw Bucky stroke a hand over the curve of his stomach, self-consciousness radiating in the movement.

            Just that quickly, Steve shifted until he was draped over Bucky entirely, back arched to avoid smushing Bucky’s bump, while keeping their bodies pressed together just the same. Grasping the nape of Bucky’s neck, Steve forced him to meet his gaze, _needing_ to impress upon Bucky the truthfulness of his words.

            “You are incredible. Gorgeous. Desirable. Perfect.” Steve interspersed each descriptive with a luscious kiss that had Bucky straining up beneath him for more. “And knowing that this is ours,” Steve shifted to cover Bucky’s protective hand with his own. “Jesus, that’s so fucking sexy Buck. My Omega, pregnant with our baby.”

            Clearly either in the rasp of Steve’s voice, or the sincerity shining from his gaze, Bucky received whatever he needed to convince him. Because it was Bucky who tugged Steve down his time, claiming Steve’s mouth, mapping it with his tongue, sucking so needily that Steve could no more control the thrusting motions of his hips than he could get up from this bed, and throw himself out the nearest window. Nothing could contain the wild fire Bucky had sparked inside of him. And he needed to see every inch of Bucky – _now_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww yisss.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CAUTION!!! This is the second chapter posted today. If you have not read the first, please go back to Chapter 13 before proceeding.

When Steve slid a hand down to grip the hem of Bucky’s t-shirt once more, brows raised in a silent request for permission, this time Bucky didn’t hesitate to nod. Okay, so he’d never once in all his feverish youthful dreams imagined their first time would be when Bucky looked like he was trying to smuggle a loaf of sourdough bread under his shirt.

            Sure, he’d thought plenty about what it would be like to be fat and pregnant and barefoot, a few unreasonably adorable and well-behaved children playing around his feet when his Alpha came home and kissed him like it was the first time, every time. Then of course once the adorable children were asleep, Bucky’s Alpha would show his adoration, and appreciation for a deliciously good dinner known in the most carnal of ways. And Bucky’s internal equal rights advocate voice could shut right up, because Bucky was an independent Omega who didn’t need no man, but his fantasies could be as politically incorrect as he damn well chose.

            The point _was_ , while his dreams certainly had included plenty of prego sex, it had only been _after_ Steve had been wooed by his super muscley body, impressed by the hard won abs Bucky carved out with sheer determination, enticed by his thickly muscled thighs, because Bucky damn well didn’t skip leg day. To say nothing of his butt, which was bubbly enough he felt any Alpha would be damn lucky to have a go at it.

            True, he’d seemed to luck out with this pregnancy in the sense that none of the weight resulting from him growing baby, and the accompanying eating, had seemed to gather anywhere other than his little belly. His chest looked just as good, his thighs thick as ever, and his ass – well from the back no one could even tell Bucky was pregnant, so there was nothing to distract from its magnificence. Yet he still didn’t feel as confident stripping his body and soul bare for the first time as he would have liked-

            “Jesus fucking _Christ_ , Bucky,” Steve swore, drinking in the sight of Bucky’s upper half now exposed to him. And alright, that went pretty far towards putting those lingering feelings of anxiety and inadequacy to rest. Particularly when Steve leaned forward to claim Bucky’s mouth with his own once more. But before Bucky could entice Steve to deepen the kiss, because Bucky was pretty certain after the last ten minutes experience that Steve’s tongue should file a change of address notice and take up residence in his own mouth, Steve moved south. Licking once again over the hickey he’d raised - and fuck, wasn’t that a tease, making Bucky ache for teeth piercing deep. Then Steve kept going.

            Mapping the broad expanse of Bucky’s chest, Steve made rumbling noises of pleasure that had Bucky eager to submit to whatever Steve wanted to do to him, but also had him seconds away from rubbing off on Steve’s thigh until he came.

            “Steve,” Bucky groaned. Instantly, that blue gaze the burning shade of the very edge of flames caught Bucky’s, even as he licked slow and wet over one tight nipple. Bucky’s groan turned into a cry, bolts of arousal shooting through him with a strength he didn’t know was possible, the recent sensitivity of his nipples suddenly a gift rather than an annoyance.

            Seeming to understand Bucky wasn’t asking him to pause this time, Steve grinned wickedly. The sight of those plush red lips dragging over his skin was so lethal Bucky was fairly certain he wouldn’t survive the experience. Steve sucked the tight nub into his mouth, the motion sending a corresponding pulse to Bucky’s cock which had been hard and aching since the moment Steve had dragged him into his lap on the couch what now seemed like a century ago. Arching into that wet, hot pressure, Bucky whimpered – until Steve gently dragged his teeth over his nipple, and then oh so carefully bit down. At which point Bucky could only scream.

            Shuddering as wave after wave of pleasure swept through him, Bucky eventually fell limp as mind-numbing bliss finally receded just enough for him to lift orgasm heavy lashes. And before he could grow embarrassed over this, because what was a baby belly compared to getting off in moments like a teen with his first taste of heaven, the first stirrings of shame died a quick and violent death. Because Steve kneeled over him, those shining red lips parted as he panted, his own hand rubbing the frankly obscene bulge in his boxer briefs. If Bucky had thought watching Steve strip had been the sexiest display ever, he’d been tragically uninformed. This – surely nothing could beat this, watching Steve coaxing out his own pleasure, moans catching in the back of his throat.

            “Fuck, Bucky… watching you fall apart, God you’re so perfect,” Steve murmured, giving himself one last squeeze, before he seemed to recommit himself to his self-assigned mission. Which apparently was to murder Bucky with pleasure. The praise alone was enough to make Bucky squirm, his cock having barely softened at all inside his pajama pants, though things was significantly stickier. To say nothing of the slick that had to be practically pouring from his empty, clenching hole, he was so desperate for Steve to be _inside_ of him. But Bucky didn’t beg, not yet anyways, because this time, their first time, he wanted whatever Steve would give him. Whatever his Alpha decided was right. Perhaps it was a challenge, or perhaps it was blind faith, but Bucky had no doubt Steve would take deliciously thorough care of him.

            Just that quickly, Steve was hovering over him once more, lips playing with Bucky’s other nipple, obviously not wanting to neglect it. Rather than lingering there and coaxing Bucky to another earth shattering orgasm though – something Bucky hadn’t even realized was _possible_ without a single touch of his cock – Steve’s mouth continued further south. Until his hands, tender and soft cupped the gentle curve of Bucky’s belly.

            “Hello little one. I love you so much. And I can’t wait to meet you,” Steve breathed, pressing achingly soft kisses to the firm little mound. Bucky’s vision began to swim at the simple beauty of a moment he’d thought he’d never have. “But for now, I need to take care of your daddy,” Steve finished. Before clever fingers snagged the waist band snugged right below that belly, and pulled them off, leaving Bucky utterly exposed.

            “Oh, Bucky,” Steve purred, his surprise and pleasure at discovering Bucky had been wearing nothing beneath the flannel pants evident. “Going commando? Fuck, I love it. Remind me want to order you to never wear underwear again.”

            Even with tears dampening the corners of them, Bucky couldn’t resist rolling his eyes at the half joking, half serious statement from his entirely horny mate who was currently thinking with his dick. “What makes you think I ever wore them to begin with?” At that, Steve froze, eyes widening with fascination, clearly enthralled at the idea of Bucky going skivvy-free on a regular basis.

            “Really?” he questioned hopefully.

            Bucky had to snort out a laugh. “No you punk. I’ve just been too tired to do laundry.”

            “Which I’m going to translate as, ‘Oh Steve, you big sexy Alpha, I’ve just been waiting for you to ravish me,’” Steve declared in a solemn tone, eyes glinting mischievously. Before Bucky could come up with a retort – and who would have thought he’d engage in a sass-off while sporting a throbbing hard-on? Bucky should have, he supposed, if he anticipated being mated to his admittedly sexy yet ridiculous Steve – the Alpha leaned down, and swallowed that hard on-whole.

            Fingers flying to down to bury in Steve’s silky, short strands, Bucky felt as though the breath had been punched from his lungs. A hit to the chest had never felt so good. Gasping, then whimpering as Steve slowly pulled back, tongue tracing wicked lines over the delicate skin of his cock, Bucky no longer had any control over the words flowing from his lips.

            “Oh fuck, Stevie, baby, oh my God that feels so good,” he keened as Steve licked away every trace of his come with loving attention, before pressing his tongue against Bucky’s slit, as though eager for another taste. Something Bucky’s cock was all too happy to provide, pre-come leaking profusely. Groans turned into a gasp as Steve gripped his thighs and tugged, pulling him further down the bed as though his weight were meaningless.

            Being so casually manhandled – add that to the list of things that instantly set Bucky on fire. “Steve,” he sobbed as the blond took him in deep, before bobbing his head shallowly, tongue swirling around the head of the shaft each time. Each move seemed designed to deconstruct Bucky, piece by piece. Until the Omega who had suffered so much loneliness and who’d been so touch starved was completely dismantled. And in his place, Steve was creating a new Bucky, who’s reality was one of being utterly loved, his body worshiped in every way he could crave.

            With almost terrifying ease, Steve had Bucky coming down his throat, Bucky crying out at the release that felt even deeper and more earth-rending than the first. It was as though every cell of his body was coded to respond to Steve, as if each touch from this Alpha would bring him pleasure no one else ever could. Trembling, over-sensitive, Bucky finally gave Steve’s head a tug when he seemed reluctant to release Bucky from his mouth. Yet Steve obediently gave way, then let out a groan of his own when Bucky utilized the small amount of space to roll over, and bring his knees beneath him. To raise up on them, back arched enticingly, ass on inviting display, head resting on folded arms, presenting for his Alpha.

            Bucky had not yet begged. He would let his body do the convincing for him. A ploy that seemed to work flawlessly when he peeked over one shoulder, eager to see Steve’s reception, any hesitation of his body being on display long forgotten. And it was everything Bucky could have wanted.

            Steve kneeled once more, lips swollen from the blow job so faithfully provided. His throat worked soundlessly, as he gazed at the sight Bucky made, rim shiny with slick, pink and tantalizing, practically cajoling Steve’s cock to fill it. Steve had at last shoved down those boxer shorts to fist his visibly throbbing cock, and Bucky whimpered at his first true sight of his mate’s mouthwatering dick. Thick and long, a vein running up the underside of it that tempted Bucky to let Steve thrust down his throat instead, it was gorgeous. And Bucky needed it _now_ , his prior releases only making that empty ache inside of him so much more acute. He needed to be fucked, he needed to be knotted. He needed to be tied to his Alpha in a way nothing could break.

            “Steve,” Bucky murmured, throat raw with emotion. But his Alpha, so attuned to him, heard, and understood. Steve stripped his underwear off entirely, before gently pushing Bucky’s legs further apart. Settling between them, Steve then draped himself over Bucky, pressing kisses over the shifting muscles of Bucky’s back. His cock slid along the cleft of Bucky’s ass, which only taunted Bucky, who pushed back into Steve. He loved the heat of the Alpha surrounding him like a living blanket, but needing to feel that heat filling him, until he could never be cold again.

            “Stevie,” Bucky whispered.

            Steve tangled his hand in Bucky’s hair, turning his face just enough for a kiss that spoke volumes. “I love you Bucky,” Steve breathed. Then he reached down to angle his cock until it rested against Bucky’s fluttering hole. Releasing Bucky’s hair to grip his hip instead, Steve held Bucky precisely where he wanted him, and began to push.

            The glide felt endless, Bucky gasping as his body felt like it rearranged himself around the welcome intrusion. His Omega body naturally became slick and open in preparation for an Alpha’s cock, but Steve was thick enough it was still a stretch, and it was _glorious_. At last, Steve was fully inside of him, and _yes_ , this was precisely what Bucky had needed. His existence narrowed down to this moment, this sensation of utter completeness, utter rightness, this moment when Steve and he were one.

            Breath shuddering, hand clenching almost painfully on Bucky’s hip, Steve was unquestionably just as affected. “Jesus, Bucky, you feel so good,” he rasped, then let out a shout when at the eroticism of his Alpha’s voice, Bucky’s body of its own volition clenched down as though to try and pull Steve deeper.

            Control shattered, Steve lifted himself until he was upright, knees spread slightly for balance, both hands gripping Bucky’s hips. And then he began to move.

            Each thrust was a tribute to the Alpha who delivered it, powerful and body shaking and life changing. Were it not for the grip of those hips, Bucky felt he would have been shoved face first into the blankets from the force. As it were, he could only tremble, wonderfully helpless, and _take_ it.

            “Steve, Steve, Steve,” Bucky chanted, unaware of the words tumbling past his lips, but of course they were the only one that mattered.

            Steve swore, sweat beginning to slick his skin, his hips smacking the rounded curves of Bucky’s ass, the slap of skin on skin and muffled curses an erotic soundtrack that dragged Bucky ruthlessly towards that edge once more. And this time, he was determined to carry Steve over that dazzling precipice with him.

            “Alpha,” Bucky sobbed, blinking through tears of exquisite pleasure as he looked over his shoulder once more. And he decided that no, _this_ , this was incontrovertibly the most sensual sight of all times – miles of muscles glistening in the low light of the bedroom, golden hair darkened with sweat, lips bitten a shining red, abs flexing as Steve pistoned into Bucky like it was his life mission. Most compelling at all was Steve’s gaze, both so full of lust and love Bucky could hardly stand it. Catching Bucky’s gaze, Steve’s features shifted, an adoration so deep shining from his face Bucky’s heart felt as though it would simply stop.

            Shifting, Steve slid his hands gently over Bucky’s belly, before gliding up to his shoulders, and he effortlessly lifted Bucky until his back was pressed to Steve’s chest. Steve kneeling, Bucky straddling his lap, Steve used his incredible strength to hold them both up as he rocked his hips, slower now.

            His own legs spread wide, draped over Steve’s the extra stretch on his rim was exquisite, and almost too much. Every minute shift of Steve’s cock inside of him was like a tiny thousand climaxes that left Bucky shuddering while still needing _more._ Bucky tipped his head back, burrowing his face into Steve’s neck to muffle his overstimulated sobs, and to breath deep the scent of his Alpha who moved so deeply inside him, it felt as though Steve was touching his soul.

            “Bucky, my beautiful Bucky, so perfect,” Steve murmured, his breath harsh but his words no less sweet for it. Sliding one hand up to hold Bucky’s throat in a grasp that was as gentle as it was possessive, Steve glided the other one down until he could wrap his fingers snuggly around Bucky’s leaking cock. The amalgamation of sensations, one comforting, one stimulating, both erotic as hell, shattered Bucky entirely.

            Blinded by pleasure, Bucky was deaf to the words Steve spoke as his cock erupted, come jetting out in ribbons to fall in glossy streaks across the bed. The pleasure was never ending, not the buffeting waves of before but a hurricane, relentless and all-powerful. Dazzled and dazed, Bucky let out another sob when Steve, who had been slowly, relentlessly fucking him all the while, sending him only higher, began to swell at the base of his cock.

            Mindless, it was sheer instinct that had Bucky slurring, “Mate me, Alpha.” Steve’s responding noise was nearly wounded, as his hips thrust harder, his knot growing so it tugged painfully, deliciously at Bucky’s rim, until it had at last swelled to its full size. Bucky’s body instinctively constricted, holding Steve deep inside of him.

            Impossibly stretched, Steve’s knot so much more than all the toys Bucky had spent his lonely heats with before, Bucky keened when Steve rolled into him. Steve, unable to thrust properly with the way they were locked together, instead used his knot which was pressed snug against Bucky’s prostate to rub it unrelentingly while chasing his own release.  

            Shuddering, Bucky’s cock twitched with a heroic effort. “I love you Steve,” Bucky managed, the words nearly inaudible in his exhausted, fucked out state.

            “I love you Bucky. More than anything,” Steve groaned. Before he pulled Bucky down on his dick hard, grinding against him and he roared out his climax, cock pulsing shockingly hot and wet, deep inside of Bucky. Bucky’s gasp turned into a shout when at last, Steve licked his neck then bit deep, teeth breaking the skin over his scent gland, the mating bite tying them together more irrevocably than the knot still pulsing inside of Bucky ever could. On the heels of a flash of pain was a surge of pleasure so consuming, it was as though a full body climax ripped through Bucky all over again. Overwhelmed, Bucky slumped, everything going soft around the edges. Yet as he closed his eyes against the world that was melting into shimmering light, Bucky felt it then. The pulse of pure love that came from Steve, through the mating bond, straight into his heart.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yayyy!! At long last these two silly boys are bonded! *happy sigh* If you liked what you read, happy comments make me happy! Thank you all lovely readers with sticking through this saga of far too much pining :D


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my lovelies! Thank you all for reading, your kudos and comments truly mean the world to me, and really inspire me to do my best. <3 So, in regards to my last two chapters... some of you very observantly noticed that Steve took his shirt off twice. Woops! In my defense, the idea of Steve shirtless does turn my mind a bit woobly. Can you blame me?? Regardless, I'm sure I'll fix that at some point, but I hope it wasn't too distracting from the sexy times.
> 
> As for this chapter... it turns out it is the last after all! I hadn't expected it to be, but as I was writing it, it just felt right. So without further ado, please enjoy the final installment of this feelsy, fluffy fic!

Two hours later, Bucky was half convinced he was experiencing the most incredible dream of his life. What else could account for the feelings of sheer happiness and contentment swelling so large inside of him, he felt his body couldn’t possible contain it. Bucky was relatively certain if the sensations inside of him grew any further, they would start beaming out of him in glowing rays of light and shimmering sparkles. The only thing that kept him tethered to the earth was the bond that tied Steve’s heart directly to his own. The pulses of love that traveled straight into his soul was all that convinced Bucky this was real. He’d never be able to imagine this level of bliss.

            After the earth shattering intensity that was their bonding, Bucky had come back to himself to find Steve had unearthed every single pillow, blanket and sheet in the apartment and built him a nest that Bucky felt he could happily spend the rest of his life in. Particularly with Steve curled up around Bucky, protective and possessive and so wonderful Bucky’s heart hurt. They’d laid there, tangled up together, talking about everything and nothing at all. More important than any words they could say was the beautiful intimacy of simply being together, bodies and hearts completely bared. It was perfect.

            Until, that was, Steve had poked and prodded Bucky to leave the nest – which was nothing short of a travesty – so Steve could get Bucky into a bubble bath instead. “Come on, sweetheart. Don’t want you to be achy and sore. The hot water will feel wonderful.” Bucky hadn’t been convinced, though the endearment had made him mushy inside. However, bribes of kisses and promises to wash his back were enough to make him leave the comfort of his nest, thought he’d complained the whole time.

            Steve had simply grinned as though a cranky Bucky was the most adorable sight in the world, before swaddling Bucky in a blanket like a grumpy burrito, and carried him to the bathroom, where Steve had run a hot bath frothing over with fragrant bubbles.

            Bucky didn’t want to admit it, but Steve had been right about how marvelous sinking into the steaming water was. It was made a thousand times better when he’d ordered a beaming Steve in with him. More than happy to follow the orders of his Omega, Steve had slid into the tub, effortlessly lifting Bucky, arranging him until he was sitting on Steve’s lap, leaning back against the blond. Sighing happily, Bucky snuggled back against his mate. Yes, this was a viable alternative to the nest, he decided, as Steve’s hands smoothed over his skin, for no other reason than to touch.

            “I love you,” Bucky spoke, overwhelmed all over again that he could say it out loud. That Steve _wanted_ his love, and loved him in return. Feeling the surge of pride and pleasure radiating through Steve, Bucky smiled.

            “I love you too, Buck,” Steve replied, trailing a line of kisses along Bucky’s neck. Reaching the bite mark which had already started to heal, yet would be visible for the rest of their lives, Steve laved his tongue over it, before sucking. Stirring, head tipping back on Steve’s shoulder, Bucky let out a breathy moan, unsure whose pleasure he was feeling – Steve’s or his own. As he started to writhe in Steve’s lap, shifting to feel the hot length of Steve’s cock rubbing deliciously across him, Bucky supposed it was all the same. As a mated pair, their pleasure was one, and Bucky was eager to feel so much more.

            “Steve,” he breathed as a large hand slid beneath the water, firmly caressing the silky heat of Bucky’s erection. Turning to bury his face against the damp skin of Steve’s neck, Bucky nipped impatiently, felt the answering twitch of Steve’s cock against his lower back. Just that quickly, any soreness or internal ache he felt from their earlier lovemaking was immaterial. He needed Steve inside him.

            As Steve thumbed over the broad head of his cock, his other hand slid between their slick bodies, to probe gently at Bucky’s clenching hole. Gasping, Bucky pressed back on the thick digits. “Too sore?” Steve questioned softly, biting delicately over the bond mark, sending a renewed wave of lust and need through Bucky.

            “No,” Bucky gritted out when Steve gave into his silent demand, and carefully drove his fingers deeper, brushing over the slick, sensitive walls before honing in on Bucky’s prostate like he had a map to it.

            “Please, Steve, now,” Bucky gasped, hands clenching on the firm muscle of Steve’s legs when it seemed the blond would be happy to leisurely stroke in and out of his hole indefinitely. Where the Alpha had gained his self-control from, Bucky had no idea. Though he’d like to blame his own insatiable lust on pregnancy hormones, he knew it was so much more simple than that. He craved Steve, had for years, and it would take the rest of their lives together before he would be even close to sated.

            Steve hummed, giving the bundle of nerves on more lingering caress before pulling his fingers free. Despite his desire for more, Bucky couldn’t hold back a little sound of loss. A pulse of pleasure came down the bond from Steve, the Alpha proud of the exquisite desire he could coax from his Omega. Yet it was nothing compared to the gratification that shot through each of them when Steve grasped Bucky’s hips, maneuvering him so that Bucky was sinking down on his cock.

            Crying out, Bucky tried to lever himself with hands grasped on the edges of the tub, eager to take Steve hard and rough. But his Alpha had other plans, Steve’s strength undisputed as he so slowly thrust into Bucky, before pulling out just as unhurriedly until only the flared head of his cock tugged on Bucky’s rim. Deliberately, he thrust up again, setting a pace that forced Bucky to simply feel every excruciatingly, blissfully thick inch moving inside of him.

            “Just like this, Buck,” Steve ground out, jaw clenching, the only sign his control was tested as Bucky helplessly flexed around him. “There’s no hurry.”

            And there wasn’t – another miracle all in itself. So Bucky simply gave in, let himself be slowly impaled on that beautiful cock again and again, all while Steve caressed his dick, equally as leisurely. Steve’s other hand traced over every inch of Bucky he could reach, as though to learn him all. Or perhaps as though if he didn’t, Bucky might simply disappear.

            The three points of stimulation left Bucky hovering on the edge, certain he would be unable to tip over it without Steve going rougher, faster, _something_. Yet when Steve let out a groan as his knot swelled, forcing itself past Bucky’s rim, locking them together, the stretch was just enough to tip the scales. Shouting, Bucky trembled as his orgasm crashed through him, each wave growing in strength until he was shuddering in Steve’s arms. Steve’s hand coaxed him through it, milking every last glossy drop from him until he was shaking at the over-stimulation. Only then did Steve come as well, gasping out Bucky’s name like a benediction as he coated Bucky’s inner walls, cock pulsing again and again.

            Slumping back against his Alpha, Bucky gasped in an out. Yes, he could definitely get behind bubble baths, if this was what he could expect each time.

            “So,” Steve panted. “I was thinking we should move in together.”

            Bucky let out a strangled laugh, still trying to get his own breathing under control. “And you want to discuss that now?”

            Steve hipped up into him, pressing his knot deeper inside of Bucky, a reminder that for the time being they were physically tied together just as irrevocably as their hearts were bonded. “It’s not like we’re going anywhere any time soon.”

            The man had a point. Dropping a kiss on Steve’s jaw, Bucky let out yet another sigh of contentment. Bubble baths and orgasms were a very good way to make cranky Bucky a thing of the past. “So, cohabitating huh? You don’t think that’s a little, I dunno, fast?” Not that Bucky did. Hell, he’d been ready for Steve to move in when he was seven.

            Unfortunately, Bucky’s parents hadn’t agreed, stating that Steve’s mom wouldn’t be too happy to see him go. But there remained a tiny part of Bucky that still couldn’t believe all of this was real, and that he was getting everything he’d ever wanted. For Steve to offer something more – he was hesitant to greedily reach for it, the way everything inside him demanded.

            Though he couldn’t see Steve’s expression, Bucky could feel the blond’s amusement through their mating bond. “Buck, you’re literally pregnant with my child. We’re bonded. I’d say if anything, we’re behind schedule.”

            Buck let out a chuckle. “Well, we never have done anything the normal way, have we?” He smoothed a hand over his bump lovingly, expression wry.

            “Normal is overrated,” Steve replied. “Although,” his hand covered Bucky’s. “I’m going to have to insist we make our next baby with the conventional method.”

            This time, Bucky barked out a laugh. “No talk about more babies until I’ve already had this one, buddy.” As much as he was eager to hold his little bump in his arms, the idea of labor wasn’t an enticing one. He definitely wasn’t ready to contemplate going through that experience more than once – not yet anyways.

            Ignoring Bucky’s order, Steve nuzzled his mark, sucking on it hard. “Don’t you want me to breed my gorgeous Omega? Fuck more babies into you. God, you look so gorgeous pregnant. I can’t wait to see you holding our babies. As many as you’re willing to have.” At both the husky rasp of Steve’s voice, and the way his cock still buried deep within Bucky pulsed, the Alpha unmistakably aroused at the idea, Bucky groaned. Alright, maybe he could be convinced to _think_ about it.

            “You make a compelling argument,” Bucky gasped out. “But to get back on point. I guess we’re moving in together. But I’ve got one condition.”

            “Hmm?” Steve replied, though he was obviously losing focus on the conversation as his hips began to thrust lazily, his renewed erection demanding attention.

            “You’ve got to explain to everyone that you’re my baby daddy after all.”

            Steve stilled, the bond going motionless as he rolled over the though he clearly hadn’t considered before. And it was a bit of a daunting one. Sam would call them idiots. Clint would call them things not to be repeated in front of their mothers. Natasha – Jesus, Natasha would _never_ let Bucky live this down. Not that Bucky would give Steve up if it meant avoiding the teasing he was bound to endure for the next few decades. No, Steve was worth anything and everything. But that didn’t mean Bucky wanted to break the news.

            Clearly, Steve felt no such hesitation, when their bond lit up with pride and excitement, Steve overjoyed at the idea of telling everyone he knew that Bucky was _his_. Now and forever.  

            “Deal.”

            Grasping Bucky’s chin, Steve turned his head so they could seal it with a kiss. Just one of the countless kisses to come, as they lived their lives, and raised their family, together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! They're together! They're bonded, and will live together, and have all the babies and live happily ever after! There is always the potential for a follow up fic, but until that potential day arrives, feel free to imagine them moving forward in whatever way makes you happy ^_^
> 
> Thank you all for reading. As always, happy comments make me happy. Cheers!


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